Oscar and Hispanics: Friends or Foes
by cjrocket89 | created - 21 Dec 2013 | updated - 10 Sep 2022 | PublicA list of Hispanic and Latino actors and actress who have been either nominated or won an Oscar. Hopeful the list will grow in the future.
1. Anthony Quinn
Actor | Alexis Zorbas
Anthony Quinn was born Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (some sources indicate Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca) on April 21, 1915, in Chihuahua, Mexico, to Manuela (Oaxaca) and Francisco Quinn, who became an assistant cameraman at a Los Angeles (CA) film studio. His paternal grandfather was Irish, ...
Mexican
2 Best Actor Nominations: "Zorba the Greek" and "Wild is the Wind"
2 Best Supporting Actor Oscars: "Viva Zapata" and "Lust for Life"
*The only Hispanic to have won more than 1 Oscar.
*First and only Mexican actor to have won an Oscar.
2. José Ferrer
Actor | The Caine Mutiny
José Ferrer was a Puerto Rican actor and film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for playing the title character in Cyrano de Bergerac (1950). Ferrer was the first Puerto Rican actor to win an Academy Award, and also the first Hispanic actor to win an Academy Award.
In 1912, Ferrer was...
Puerto Rican
Best Actor Oscar: "Cyrano de Bergerac"
Best Actor Nomination: "Moulin Rouge"
Best Supporting Actor Nomination: "Joan of Arc"
*Only Hispanic to have won an Oscar for Best Actor.
3. Javier Bardem
Actor | Skyfall
Javier Bardem belongs to a family of actors that have been working on films since the early days of Spanish cinema.
He was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, to actress Pilar Bardem (María del Pilar Bardem Muñoz) and businessman José Carlos Encinas Doussinague. His maternal grandparents were...
Spanish
Best Supporting Actor Oscar: "No Country for Old Men"
3 Best Actor Nominations: "Becoming the Ricardos", "Biutiful", and "Before Night Falls"
*First Spanish Male to win an Oscar.
4. Benicio Del Toro
Actor | Sicario
Benicio Del Toro emerged in the mid-1990s as one of the most watchable and charismatic character actors to come along in years. A favorite of film buffs, Del Toro gained mainstream public attention as the conflicted but basically honest Mexican policeman in Steven Soderbergh's Traffic (2000).
...
Puerto Rican
Best Supporting Actor Oscar: "Traffic"
Best Supporting Actor Nomination: "21 Grams"
*First and only Puerto Rican to win for Supporting Actor.
5. Penélope Cruz
Actress | Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Known outside her native country as the "Spanish enchantress," Penélope Cruz Sánchez was born in Madrid to Eduardo Cruz, a retailer, and Encarna Sánchez, a hairdresser. As a toddler, she was already a compulsive performer, re-enacting TV commercials for her family's amusement, but she decided to ...
Spain
Best Supporting Actress Oscar: "Vicky Christina Barcelona"
2 Best Actress Nominations: "Parallel Mothers" and"Volver"
Best Supporting Actress Nomination: "Nine"
*First and only Spanish woman to win an Oscar.
6. Rita Moreno
Actress | West Side Story
Rita Moreno is one of the very few performers to win an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony and a Grammy, thus becoming an EGOT. She was born Rosita Dolores Alverío in the hospital in Humacao, Puerto Rico on December 11, 1931 (but raised in nearby, smaller Juncos, which had no hospital), to seamstress Rosa ...
Puerto Rican
Best Supporting Actress Oscar: "West Side Story"
*First Puerto Rican woman to win an Oscar.
7. Ariana DeBose
Actress | West Side Story
Ariana DeBose is an American actress, dancer, and singer. Known for her performances on stage and screen, she has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 2022, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people ...
Puerto Rican
Best Supporting Actress Oscar: "West Side Story 2021"
*1st Afrolatina to win an Oscar
*1st Queer Latina to win an Oscar
8. Mercedes Ruehl
Actress | The Fisher King
Ruehl received her first Academy Award nomination and win for her performance as Anne Napolitano, the emotionally driven girlfriend to fallen radio personality, (played by Jeff Bridges), in Terry Gilliam's masterpiece, The Fisher King (1991). In addition to an Oscar, and a Golden Globe, Ruehl's ...
Cuban American
Best Supporting Actress Oscar: "The Fisher King"
*First and only Cuban to win an Oscar.
9. Salma Hayek
Actress | Frida
Salma Hayek was born on September 2, 1966 in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico. Her father is of Lebanese descent and her mother is of Mexican/Spanish ancestry. After having seen Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) in a local movie theater, she decided she wanted to become an actress. At age 12, she...
Mexican
Best Actress Nomination: "Frida"
*First Mexican nominated for Lead Actress.
10. Demián Bichir
Actor | The Hateful Eight
Demián Bichir Nájera was born in Mexico City, Mexico, to Maricruz Nájera (María de la Cruz Najera Botello), an actress, and Alejandro Bichir (Alejandro Bichir Batres), a theatre director. His parents met in the theatre. He has two brothers who are also actors, Bruno Bichir and Odiseo Bichir. His ...
Mexican
Best Actor Nomination: "A Better Life"
11. Edward James Olmos
Actor | Battlestar Galactica
Born February 24, 1947, in East Los Angeles, at The First Japanese Hospital to Pedro Olmos and Eleanor Huizar. Raised on Cheesebrough's Lane, he attended Greenwood Elementary and Montebello Junior High. He then graduated from Montebello High School in 1964. After which he received an Associative ...
Mexican American
Best Actor Nomination: "Stand and Deliver"
12. Adriana Barraza
Actress | Babel
Adriana Barraza was born on March 5, 1956 in Toluca, Estado de Mexico, Mexico. She is a director and actress, known for Babel (2006), Blue Beetle (2023) and Drag Me to Hell (2009). She has been married to Arnaldo Pipke since April 29, 2005. She was previously married to Carlos Valsagna.
Mexican
Best Supporting Actress Nomination: "Babel"
13. Katy Jurado
Actress | High Noon
Katy Jurado was born María Cristina Estela Jurado García into a wealthy family on January 16, 1924. Her early years were spent amid luxury until her family's lands were confiscated by the federal government for redistribution to the landless peasantry. Despite the loss of property, the matriarch of...
Mexican
Best Supporting Actress Nomination: "Broken Lance"
*First Mexican nominated for an Oscar
14. Norma Aleandro
Actress | La historia oficial
Norma Aleandro is the Grande Dame of Argentine theater and cinema not only because she was not content to have trodden the stage as early as the the age of nine, she is still active in theater and cinema in 2011. Her last film to date, Daniel Burman's La suerte en tus manos (2012) is in ...
Argentinian
Best Supporting Actress Nomination: "Gaby: A True Story"
*First Argentinian nominated for an Oscar
15. Bérénice Bejo
Actress | The Artist
Actress Bérénice Bejo was born in Buenos Aires, the daughter of Silvia De Paoli, a lawyer, and Miguel Bejo, a filmmaker. When she was three, Bejo's family relocated to Paris, France. She embarked on a successful acting career in the 1990s, with various roles in French television and film ...
Argentinian
Best Supporting Actress Nomination: "The Artist"
*Born in Argentina but raised in France.
16. Rosie Perez
Actress | White Men Can't Jump
Rosie Perez was born in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York City, to Lydia Perez and Ismael Serrano, a merchant marine. She is of Puerto Rican descent. Rosie attended Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood, Queens, New York, and later enrolled at Los Angeles City College in Los Angeles, California. ...
Puerto Rican
Best Supporting Actress Nomination: "Fearless"
17. Susan Kohner
Actress | Imitation of Life
Susan Kohner was born on November 11, 1936 in Los Angeles, California. Her Mexican mother was actress Lupita Tovar, a successful performer from the 1930s and it was only natural that for Susan to gravitate toward acting. Her first role was in To Hell and Back (1955) in 1955. One more film in 1956 ...
Puerto Rican
Best Supporting Actress Nomination: "Imitation of Life"
18. Andy Garcia
Actor | Ocean's Eleven
One of Hollywood's most private and guarded leading men, Andy Garcia has created iconic characters while at the same time staying true to his acting roots and personal projects.
Garcia was born Andrés Arturo García Menéndez on April 12, 1956, in Havana, Cuba, to Amelie Menéndez, a teacher of English...
Cuban
Best Supporting Actor Nomination: "The Godfather: Part III"
*First and only Cuban nominated for Supporting Actor.
19. Catalina Sandino Moreno
Actress | Maria Full of Grace
Catalina Sandino Moreno made her screen debut as the title character in the critically-acclaimed film "Maria Full of Grace" from Fine Line Features/HBO. For her performance, Sandino was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, a Screen Actors Guild Award for Performance by...
Colombian
Best Actress Nomination: "Maria Full of Grace"
*Only Colombian nominated for an Oscar.
20. Yalitza Aparicio
Actress | Roma
Yalitza Aparicio is a Mexican actress. She is best known for her film debut Roma (2018), which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Aparicio was born on December 11, 1993, in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, Mexico. She also has an baccalaureate in early childhood education.
Her parents ...
Mexican
Best Actress Nomination: "Roma"
*First and only indigenous Mexican nominated for an Oscar
21. Marina de Tavira
Actress | Roma
Marina de Tavira is a Mexican theatre, film and television actress. Her career has mainly developed on the Mexican stage working with the most prestigious directors in the scene. She has played the lead parts in stagings of play writes like Bertold Brecht, Harold Pinter, David Mamet, and Ximena ...
Mexican
Best Supporting Actress Nomination: "Roma"
22. Antonio Banderas
Actor | The Mask of Zorro
Antonio Banderas, one of Spain's most famous faces, was a soccer player until breaking his foot at the age of fourteen; he is now an international movie star known for playing Zorro in the eponymous movie series.
He was born José Antonio Domínguez Banderas on August 10, 1960, in Málaga, Andalusia, ...
Spanish
Best Actor Nomination: "Dolor y Gloria"
23. Fernanda Montenegro
Actress | Central do Brasil
Arlette Pinheiro Esteves da Silva was born on 16th October 1929 in Rio de Janeiro. She adopted the name "Fernanda" because she thought it sounded good. "Montenegro" came after her family doctor.
In late 40s she was translating and adapting famous theater plays to radio. She begun her artistic life ...
Brazilian
Best Actress Nomination: "Central Station"
*Only Brazilian nominated for an Oscar
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