Oscars: Marianne Jean-Baptiste can become fifth Black actress nominated multiple times

With her new movie “Hard Truths,” Marianne Jean-Baptiste is looking to accomplish a surprising statistic that only four Black actresses have achieved before: receiving multiple Oscar bids for acting. The latest work from Bleecker Street and director Mike Leigh stars Jean-Baptiste as a woman with depression navigating her interpersonal relationships. She already holds the distinction of being the first Black British actress to receive an Oscar nomination for Leigh’s 1996 drama “Secret & Lies,” and now she can join the exclusive list of multiple Black actress nominees that currently consists of Whoopi Goldberg, Angela Bassett, Octavia Spencer, and Viola Davis.

It’s hard to believe that only four Black actresses have been acknowledged for the Oscar at least twice. The first to achieve double recognition was Goldberg, her second proving successful for Best Supporting Actress in the supernatural romance “Ghost” (1990), five years after receiving her first nod in the lead category for her film debut in Steven Spielberg’s movie adaptation of “The Color Purple” (1985). Goldberg also took home Golden Globe Awards for both movies.

The other two-timer in this prestige bunch is Bassett in what was the longest stretch between both of her nominations. Similar to Goldberg, her first came in Best Actress for playing Tina Turner in “What’s Love Got to Do with It” (1993), for which she also won the Golden Globe. After 29 years, she returned in historic fashion becoming the first actor to ever be nominated for a Marvel movie for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (2022) in Best Supporting Actress, and winning her second Golden Globe and the Critics Choice Award. Despite being the only one on this list without a competitive Oscar, she received an Honorary Academy Award the next year in 2023.

Moving over to our first triple-cited actress, Spencer struck gold on her first try at the Oscars, nabbing Best Supporting Actress for “The Help” (2011), after sweeping all the precursors, which include the Globe, Critics’ Choice, Screen Actors Guild Award, and BAFTA Award. Five years later, she continued her supporting run by becoming the first Black actress to reap back-to-back nominations with “Hidden Figures” (2016) and “The Shape of Water” (2017).

Finally, there is Spencer’s co-star in “The Help,” Davis, who has the most Oscar nominations of any female Black actress with four, alternating between supporting and lead. She began with her first supporting bid in 2008 for “Doubt” for a brief, yet impactful scene as the mother of an abused child, before leading the 2011 ensemble period movie “The Help” and taking home her first SAG Award. Her latter half of Oscar nods both came from August Wilson material, starting in 2016 when she reprised her Tony-winning role in the film adaptation of his play “Fences,” winning her first Best Supporting Actress trophy and sweeping the precursors, and then in 2020 for her portrayal of blues singer Gertrude “Ma” Rainey in the adaptation of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” for which she claimed her third individual SAG Award for Best Actress.

Now as of this writing, Jean-Baptiste has risen to the top five in our combined Gold Derby odds with 21/2, surpassing Saoirse Ronan for “The Outrun,” with the backup of 16 experts, five editors, and 12 top 24 users. She trails behind Mikey Madison (“Anora”) at 37/10, Karla Sofía Gascón (“Emilia Perez”) at 9/2, Angelina Jolie (“Maria”) at 5/1, and Nicole Kidman (“Babygirl”) at 17/2 odds. During her path to Oscar recognition for “Secrets & Lies,” she was also cited at the Globes and BAFTAs, which could be huge benefactors for her this year.

Despite “Hard Truths” only premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, having been rejected at Cannes and Venice, Baptiste has already picked up critical noms at the Gotham Awards and the British Independent Film Awards, which can propel her moving forward as the movie hits a limited New York release on Dec. 6, just in the nick of time before Golden Globe nominations are announced on Dec. 9. With the right momentum, Baptiste can make Oscar history this year by joining a select group of Black actresses.

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