Every year, the Academy Awards ceremony expands its demographic of winners and nominees with a number of historic firsts. The 2022 Academy Awards, for example, saw the first openly queer woman of color win an Oscar, when Ariana DeBose took home the Best Supporting Actress statuette for her role as Anita in “West Side Story.” (Not everybody wants to win an Oscar, however. Here are famous people who have turned down major awards or nominations.)
To determine 30 famous firsts in Oscars history, 24/7 Tempo reviewed data from the Academy Awards database of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. We compiled a list of nominations and wins with historical significance in the award show’s history. Achievements are listed in chronological order.
Some historic firsts include the first Black man winning Best Actor in 1963, the first deaf actor winning an Oscar in 1986, and the first Asian woman winning best director in 2020. Other firsts involve award-winning movies that represent previously underappreciated film genres, such as “Rocky,” which became the first sports movie to win Best Picture in 1976, and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” which became the first martial arts film nominated for Best Picture in 2000.
Although the Academy Awards are continually striving to recognize a broader range of talent, there is still much room for growth in diversity and representation. In its 94-year history, for instance, only seven women have ever been nominated for Best Director, and only three have won the honor. (These are the Oscars’ most egregious snubs.)
30. First foreign-language film to receive a Best Picture nomination
> Winner: The Grand Illusion (French)
> Year: 1938
29. First foreign-made film to win Best Picture
> Winner: Hamlet (British)
> Year: 1948
28. First film to win three Academy Awards for acting
> Winner: A Streetcar Named Desire (Vivien Leigh, Karl Malden, Kim Hunter)
> Year: 1951
27. First Asian performer to win an acting Oscar
> Winner: Myoshi Umeki, Best Supporting Actress, Sayonara
> Year: 1957
26. First person to win Oscars for Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Picture for one film
> Winner: Billy Wilder, The Apartment
> Year: 1961
25. First Black performer to win Best Actor
> Winner: Sidney Poitier, Lilies of the Field
> Year: 1963
24. First crime film to win Best Picture
> Winner: In the Heat of the Night
> Year: 1967
23. First X-rated movie to win an Oscar
> Winner: Midnight Cowboy (later re-rated to R)
> Year: 1969
22. First science fiction film to be nominated for Best Picture
> Winner: A Clockwork Orange
> Year: 1971
21. First horror film nominated for Best Picture
> Winner: The Exorcist
> Year: 1973
20. First sequel to win Best Picture
> Winner: Godfather Part II
> Year: 1974
19. First sports film to win Best Picture
> Winner: Rocky
> Year: 1976
18. First actor to win an Oscar for playing a member of the opposite sex
> Winner: Linda Hunt, Best Supporting Actress, The Year of Living Dangerously
> Year: 1983
17. First third-generation Oscar winner
> Winner: Angelica Huston, Best Supporting Actress, Prizzi’s Honor (daughter of Oscar-winning director John Huston and granddaughter of Oscar-winning actor Walter Huston)
> Year: 1985
16. First deaf performer to win an acting Oscar
> Winner: Marlee Matlin, Best Actress, Children of a Lesser God
> Year: 1986
15. First animated film to receive a Best Picture nomination
> Winner: Beauty and the Beast
> Year: 1991
14. First movie to receive two Oscar nominations for the same character
> Winner: Titanic (a Best Actress nomination for Kate Winslet and a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Gloria Stuart, both for the role of Rose, at different ages)
> Year: 1997
13. First Best Picture winner to gross over $1 billion
> Winner: Titanic
> Year: 1997
12. First martial arts film nominated for Best Picture
> Winner: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
> Year: 2000
11. First Black woman to win Best Actress
> Winner: Halle Berry, Monster’s Ball
> Year: 2001
10. First musical film to win Best Picture in 34 years
> Winner: Chicago
> Year: 2002
9. First remake to win Best Picture
> Winner: The Departed, a remake of Internal Affairs (2002)
> Year: 2006
8. First female to win Best Director
> Winner: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
> Year: 2009
7. First performance in a superhero film to win an acting Oscar
> Winner: Heath Ledger, Best Supporting Actor, The Dark Knight
> Year: 2009
6. First CGI film nominated for Best Picture
> Winner: Up
> Year: 2009
5. First silent film to win Best Picture in 84 years
> Winner: The Artist
> Year: 2011
4. First film by a Black director to win Best Picture
> Winner: 12 Years A Slave (Steve McQueen)
> Year: 2013
3. First foreign-language film to win Best Picture
> Winner: Parasite (Korean)
> Year: 2019
2. First Asian woman to win Best Director
> Winner: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
> Year: 2020
1. First streaming movie to win Best Picture
> Winner: CODA, streaming on Apple+
> Year: 2021