Jodie Foster has been nominated for an Academy Award for the first time in nearly 30 years. The two-time Oscar winner, 61 – who last received a nod in 1995 for Nell – was recognized in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role in Nyad.
The screen icon will face off on March 10 against Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer, Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple, America Ferrera, Barbie and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers.
Her Nyad co-star Annette Bening, 65, landed her fourth Best Actress nomination for the film, having previously been nominated in the category for American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are Alright. She was also previously nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category for The Grifter.
Nyad follows the journey of long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad as she attempts a 100-mile ocean swim from Havana, Cuba to Key West, Florida. Bening plays Nyad who originally gained fame when she swam 28 miles around Manhattan in 1975 at age 26 and for her 102 mile swim in 1979 at age 30 from the Bahamas to Juno Beach, Florida.
The film is based on Diana Nyad’s 2015 memoir, Find A Way. It follows the 64-year-old swimming legend on her quest to achieve her lifelong dream of competing a 110-mile open ocean swim from Cuba to Florida.
Foster plays Bonnie Stoll, her friend and coach, who alongside a sailing team, guides Nyad on her four year journey to become the first person to complete the swim without the help of a shark cage.
Foster won her first Oscar as a 27-year-old for her lead role in The Accused in 1989 – winning the Best Actress award. She had landed her first Oscar nomination aged just 15 for Best Supporting Actress for Taxi Driver in 1977.
In 1992 she won in this category again for her role as rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs, which also won co-star Anthony Hopkins the Best Actor award – along with Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Oppenheimer dominated Tuesday’s Academy Award nominations – bagging 13 nods, including best picture and best star for Cillian Murphy. The impressive total – which also includes best supporting actor and actress for Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt, as well as best director for Christopher Nolan – is just one nomination short of the all-time record set by Titanic in 1998.
Last year’s other smash hit movie – Barbie – was nominated for eight awards, but also fell victim to notable snubs from the Academy during Tuesday’s ceremony, which was hosted by Jack Quaid and Zazie Beetz.
Its star Margot Robbie was not nominated for best actress, while Greta Gerwig was not nominated for best director. Another surprise saw America Ferrara nominated for best supporting actress over her role in Barbie, with pundits saying her character’s impassioned speech on feminism had sealed the deal.
Barbie’s other nominations include best picture, best supporting actor for Ryan Gosling and two nods for best song – including Gosling’s famed ‘I’m Just Ken.’ The second most-nominated movie was Poor Things, a graphic art house movie starring Emma Stone that has wowed critics but so-far failed to set the box office alight.
Stone plays a sex-crazed young woman, with her performance wowing critics. She previously won best actress in 2017 for her performance in La La Land. For best actor in leading role Bradley Cooper and Cillian Murphy are set to duke it out for the award. Colman Domingo, Paul Giamatti and Jeffrey Wright received nominations as well. Leonardo DiCaprio was not recognized for his acting on Killers Of The Flower Moon.