Denzel Washington is still not a BAFTA nominee after ‘Gladiator II’ snub

Another year, another BAFTA snub for Denzel Washington.

The two-time Oscar winner has never been nominated by the British Academy and was snubbed again on Wednesday, missing out on a nomination in Best Supporting Actor for Gladiator II. The nominees were Yura Borisov (Anora), Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain), Clarence Maclin (Sing Sing), Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown), Guy Pearce (The Brutalist), and Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice).

Washington’s shutout at BAFTA has been one of the most curious and high-profile slights in the group’s history. Over his nearly 50-year career, the actor has accrued nine acting Oscar nominations, winning Best Supporting Actor for 1989’s Glory and Best Actor for 2001’s Training Day, the latter of which made him the second Black man to prevail in lead. His first Oscar bid was for his supporting turn in Cry Freedom (1987), and his other nominations were in lead for Malcolm X (1992), The Hurricane (2001), Flight (2012), Fences (2016), Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017), and The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021). He is the most-nominated Black performer in Oscar history and owns a 10th nomination as a producer on Best Picture nominee Fences.

Some of the screen legend’s BAFTA snubs for his Oscar-nominated performances could be chalked up to release dates as several films, including Glory, Malcolm X, and The Hurricane, missed the eligibility period and had to compete the following year. This has affected other Oscar nominees and winners, like Halle Berry (Monster’s Ball) and Charlize Theron (Monster), both of whom were nominated at BAFTA the year after their Oscar victories. Other times, BAFTA just overlooked Washington while nominating other aspects of his films. Cry Freedom received seven BAFTA bids, including Best Picture, Best Director for Richard Attenborough, and Best Supporting Actor for John Thaw, and won Best Sound. Fences got just one nomination, for Viola Davis, who won Best Supporting Actress during her Oscar season sweep. The Tragedy of Macbeth was nominated for cinematography.

SEE Complete list of 2025 BAFTA nominations

Many thought Washington would break his duck three years ago with Macbeth — he was third in the odds and was doing Shakespeare after all. After coming under fire for its lack of diversity, BAFTA implemented a new voting system four years ago that involved jury intervention in the acting and directing categories, which were also expanded to fields of six. At the time, the top two vote-getters in the first round of voting by the acting branch were automatic acting nominees, while a jury filled in the remaining four slots from the longlist. Washington was snubbed in favor of Adeel Akhtar (Ali & Ava), Mahershala Ali (Swan Song), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog), Leonardo DiCaprio (Don’t Look Up), Stephen Graham (Boiling Point), and Will Smith (King Richard). Smith triumphed, becoming the category’s fourth Black winner.

The juries were eliminated this year, so all acting nominees were determined by the acting branch from the longlist of 10 per category, which Washington made. He was in sixth place in the supporting actor odds for his scene-stealing turn as Macrinus in the Gladiator sequel. He’d also been having one of his best precursor runs in years, having won two critics awards and received his maiden London Film Critics Circle nomination, along with a Golden Globe bid.

But that momentum hit a major speed bump last Wednesday when he was was surprisingly snubbed by the Screen Actors Guild Awards, where a beloved icon like him usually thrives. He won SAG for Fences, denying Casey Affleck a perfect sweep for Manchester of the Sea, and was nominated for little-seen fare like Roman J. Israel, Esq. Since the SAG Awards were established in 1995, Washington, who is in fifth place in the Oscar odds, has always been shortlisted by the guild en route to an Oscar nomination. He has obviously never needed BAFTA to collect an Oscar nomination, but now missing both SAG and BAFTA is ominous.