Hollywood; Hollywood actor Will Smith won the best actor award for his role in the biopic, King Richard, on Sunday, and with this, Smith became one of the very few black actors who have won the prestigious award in the history of Hollywood.

Before Smith, very few actors won the award. Hattie McDaniel became the first black actor to ever win an Academy Award in 1939. She won the award for her caustic but subservient "Mammy" character in Gone with the Wind.

Later, it was Sidney Poitier who won the award for best actor in a lead role for his performance in Lilies of the Field in the year 1963; he was the youngest black actor to win Best Actor (age 37). Before Denzel Washington won the award in 2001, eight black actors were nominated for best actor in the lead role category. Denzel Washington won this award for his acting in Training Day. He was the second African-American actor to receive the award in the Best Actor category. For the first time ever, two African-American performers won Oscars that year. It was Halle Berry for her role in Monster's Ball.

Jamie Foxx won the Oscar in the same category in the year 2004 for his film Ray.  In 2006, Forest Whitaker won the award for his performance in "The Last King of Scotland." After 15 years of a gap, another black actor, Will Smith, won the award for his role in King Richard. This year, another black actor, Denzel Washington, was also nominated in the same category for his acting in The Tragedy of Macbeth.

Louis Gossett Jr. won the award for best actor in a supporting role in the year 1982 for his role in An Officer and a Gentleman. In 1989, Denzel Washington was nominated in the same category for his performance in Cry Freedom and he won the award for his role in Glory.

In 1996, Cuba Gooding Jr. won the best supporting actor award for his acting in Jerry Maguire. Morgan Freeman won the award for "Million Dollar Baby" in 2004. Mahershala Ali won Best Supporting Actor for Moonlight in 2016 and Green Book in 2018. Moonlight is the second film to have black nominees for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. He was the first Muslim actor to win an Academy Award. It was the first time that two African-American actors received Oscar nominations for supporting roles in the same year (Viola Davis, Fences).

In 2020, Daniel Kaluuya won the award for his role in Judas and the Black Messiah.

In 1990, Whoopi Goldberg became the second African-American actress to win Best Supporting Actress. She won the award for her role in Ghost. Jennifer Hudson, in her debut in Dreamgirls in 2006, won the award for best actress in the supporting role category.

In 2009, Mo'Nique, 2011 Octavia Spencer, and in 2013 Lupita Nyong'o won the award in the same category. In 2018, Regina King and, in 2021, Ariana DeBose won the award for best actress in the supporting role category.