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Jet, Feb 21, 2005

Though stellar roles for Black performers on the big screen never have been numerous in Hollywood, the 2005 Academy Awards telecast will have a banner number of Black performers strolling down that dazzling red carpet in Tinsel Town.

Topping it off, comic superstar Chris Rock will host the 77th Annual Academy Awards telecast at the Kodak Theater. He's headlining a show that will witness an unprecedented five Black acting nominations.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed for JET that the five nominations for Black acting performances eclipses the numbers received in previous years.

The Black nominees in the best acting category are Jamie Foxx for his much-heralded performance as music legend Ray Charles in Ray and Don Cheadle for his role as a Rwandan hotel employee desperately trying to save his family as well as the lives of over a thousand more in Hotel Rwanda.

Foxx also was nominated as best supporting actor for his role as a cabdriver forced to help a hit man in Collateral. He's the first Black to receive two nominations in the same year.

This year, he joins Morgan Freeman in the best supporting actor category. Freeman received a nod for his role in the critically-acclaimed boxing drama Million Dollar Baby.

The other Black performance nominee was Sophie Okonedo, who played Cheadle's frightened wife in Hotel Rwanda.

In addition to the performance nominations, there were Black nominations in the documentary and foreign language categories. Tupac: Resurrection was nominated as best documentary while the best foreign language nod went to the South African film Yesterday.

Also a documentary short subject nominee, Mighty Times: The Children's March, dealing with segregation in the 1960s, has a Black theme.

The previous largest number of performance nominations that went to Blacks was three and that, according to Academy officials, occurred several times in the past.

First was 1972 and all were in the best acting categories. They were: Diana Ross, best actress for Lady Sings the Blues, along with Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield, both for Sounder). Second was 1985 with Whoopi Goldberg as best actress for The Color Purple and Oprah Winfrey and Margaret Avery as best supporting actresses for that same movie).

It occurred again in that key year of 2002 when Denzel Washington (Training Day) and Halle Berry (Monster's Ball) won the coveted award in the best acting category. Will Smith was also nominated as best actor for Ali. That same telecast saw acting legend Sidney Poitier receive a special achievement Oscar. Poitier was the first Black to receive a best acting Oscar for his role in Lilies of the Field in 1963.

Veteran actor Morgan Freeman received his fourth Oscar nomination with Million Dollar Baby. He previously was nominated for supporting actor in Street Smart in 1987, Driving Miss Daisy in 1989 and 1994 for Shawshank Redemption. The acclaimed stage and screen actor has never won an Oscar.

Freeman spoke to CBS news about the record number of nominations, saying: "Hollywood follows the public. Hollywood is not a trend-setter; it's a follower. It goes where the money is. So, in that sense, there's a great change, but it merely reflects the country. There's great hoopla about me and Don and Jamie, but also Condoleezza (Rice) and Colin Powell. We are all taking it in stride. It seems like it follows the same syndrome.

"The country is shifting gears in terms of how we relate to one another. I was talking to somebody about this whole thing with minority representation in the movies. We're not the only minorities."

British actress Okonedo was quoted as telling reporters: "I feel like I'm in a great year at the Oscars. There's not only a diversity of actors, but also diversity of films, little-budget films to great big ones. That's what it's all about. Not just the same old formula, the same old people, going up for the same old type of awards. I think it's really turned a corner this year."

Awards show host Chris Rock also will be making Oscar ceremonies history joining that small list of Black personalities given the coveted role of hosting the most-watched annual award show in America.

Previous Black hosts were Whoopi Goldberg who headed the telecast four times, Richard Pryor, Sammy Davis Jr. and Diana Ross. Rock's selection has been seen as an attempt by the Hollywood community to broaden the appeal of the Oscar telecast.

Goldberg hosted the event solo while Pryor, Davis and Ross were paired with others. Pryor and Davis co-hosted the telecast twice while Ross helmed the event once.

Several years ago, Rock made jokes about the Academy Awards being so White that it looked like the "million White man march."

Academy Awards will be handed out Feb. 27th in Hollywood.

Black Actors & Actresses Who Have Won Oscars

Hattie McDaniel--Best Supporting Actress--Gone With The Wind--1939

Sidney Poitier--Best Actor--Lilies Of The Field--1963

Louis Gossett Jr.--Best Supporting Actor--An Officer And A Gentleman--1982

Denzel Washington--Best Supporting Actor--Glory--1989