#Will Big Ensembles Clog the Supporting Oscar Categories?

In 2023, a number of outstanding ensembles dominated the year’s most celebrated films. As such, this season has delivered Oscar-worthy performances from two (or more) supporting actors and actresses in each film — which could result in the Academy nominating more than one supporting actor and/or actress from their respective features.

Frontrunners include Danielle Brooks and Taraji P. Henson in Warner Bros.’ The Color Purple, Robert De Niro and Jesse Plemons in Apple/Paramount’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Willem Dafoe and Mark Ruffalo in Searchlight’s Poor Things, and two sets of supporting performers in Universal’s Oppenheimer: actresses Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh, and actors Matt Damon and Robert Downey Jr.

But there are also strong contenders in Ben Affleck and Chris Messina in Amazon Studios’ Air; Jamie Bell and Paul Mescal in Searchlight’s All of Us Strangers; Colman Domingo and Corey Hawkins in The Color Purple; and Harris Dickinson, Holt McCallany and Jeremy Allen White in A24’s The Iron Claw. 

There are five slots each for supporting actor and actress, and the Academy doesn’t limit the number of nominees from the same film. While it seems that one or two films might monopolize the supporting categories, it wouldn’t be the first time that a single feature nabs multiple noms for supporting actor or actress. In fact, it’s happened quite often in the Oscars’ 95-year history — as recently as last year’s The Banshees of Inisherin (nominees Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan) and Everything Everywhere All at Once (winner Jamie Lee Curtis, who won over castmate Stephanie Hsu).

Twenty-one movies have had multiple performers nominated for supporting actor. The first instance was Harry Carey Sr. and Claude Rains for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in 1940, although Ben Johnson was the first to win over a co-star (Jeff Bridges), for The Last Picture Show in 1972. In the supporting actress category, there have been 35 instances of the Academy honoring multiple women from the same film, with Hattie McDaniel and Olivia de Havilland the first to go head-to-head in 1940 for Gone With the Wind. (McDaniel won, becoming the first Black performer to win an Oscar.)

In the past, seven actors have won over a co-star in the same category: Daniel Kaluuya over LaKeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah), Sam Rockwell over Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), Jack Nicholson over John Lithgow (Terms of Endearment), Timothy Hutton over Judd Hirsch (Ordinary People), Jason Robards over Maximilian Schell (Julia), De Niro over Michael V. Gazzo and Lee Strasberg (The Godfather Part II), and Johnson over Bridges (The Last Picture Show).

Similarly, 13 actresses have taken home the gold over their co-star in the same category, including when McDaniel beat de Havilland: Celeste Holm over Anne Revere (Gentleman’s Agreement), Teresa Wright over May Whitty (Mrs. Miniver), Helen Hayes over Maureen Stapleton (Airport), Cloris Leachman over Ellen Burstyn (The Last Picture Show), Tatum O’Neal over Madeline Kahn (Paper Moon), Meryl Streep over Jane Alexander (Kramer vs. Kramer), Jessica Lange over Teri Garr (Tootsie), Dianne Wiest over Jennifer Tilly (Bullets Over Broadway), Catherine Zeta-Jones over Queen Latifah (Chicago), Melissa Leo over Amy Adams (The Fighter), Octavia Spencer over Jessica Chastain (The Help) and, last year, Curtis over Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once).

De Niro has been in this boat before, when he beat his co-stars from The Godfather Part II (the last film to receive more than two acting noms in the same category). Plus, 1985’s The Color Purple saw two nominated supporting actresses: Margaret Avery and Oprah Winfrey, which is a promising sign for the chances of Henson and Brooks, who play the same respective roles as Avery and Winfrey did 30 years ago.

Given the powerhouse ensembles this season, it might be more likely that the Academy highlights fewer titles across the 10 supporting nominees when the Oscar nominations are announced Jan. 23. 

This story first appeared in a January standalone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.