It should surprise no one that Precious scored the most nominations from the NAACP Image Awards today. (For once it’s nice to see Mariah Carey and Paula Patton recognized alongside Gabourey Sidibe and Mo’Nique.) But I’m not sure anyone expected a Best Actress citation for The Blind Side‘s Sandra Bullock. So is this a sign that Bullock’s momentum is continuing to increase? Or does it just mean that black actresses are given so few lead roles in films these days that two of the NAACP slots have to go to a white woman and a cartoon?
The full nominees’ list is below.
Motion Picture
The Blind Side
Invictus
Michael Jackson’s This Is It
Precious
The Princess and the Frog
Actor
Denzel Washington, The Taking of Pelham 123
Idris Elba, Obsessed
Jamie Foxx, Law Abiding Citizen
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Quinton Aaron, The Blind Side
Actress
Anika Noni Rose, The Princess and the Frog
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Sophie Okonedo, Skin
Taraji P. Henson, Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself
Supporting Actor
Adam Rodriguez, Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself
Anthony Mackie, The Hurt Locker
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 2012
Danny Glover, 2012
Lenny Kravitz, Precious
Supporting Actress
Alfre Woodard, American Violet
Mariah Carey, Precious
Mo’Nique, Precious
Paula Patton, Precious
Zoe Saldana, Avatar
Independent Motion Picture
American Violet
Amreeka
Endgame
Medicine for Melancholy
Precious
Foreign Motion Picture
The Maid
Rudo y Cursi
Sin Nombre
Skin
The Stoning of Soraya M.
Documentary
Capitalism: A Love Story
Crips and Bloods: Made in America
Crude
Good Hair
More Than A Game
The NAACP honoring The Blind Side? Did not see that coming.
Were you blindsided?
Heh. Well played!
good one!
Word Play!
That is kind of awesome to see Sandra Bullock’s name on the NAACP ballot!!! Hooray for her!!!
Sandra Bullock nominated by the NAACP? Dionne Warwick is gonna be up in arms!!
Relax; she won’t win. Gabourey Sidibe’s got this one in the bag.
Are you implying Dionne is racist?
As much as I admire the NAACP’s work, I think they have to rethink their nomination process for these awards. It’s one thing to celebrate the achievements of African Americans in the film industry, but it’s another entirely to celebrate African Americans in cinema solely for its own sake. When 2012 and Law Abiding Citizen make your shortlist for acting awards, something is definitely amiss. Why not more love for American Violet and its star, Nicole Beharie? What about actors from other minority backgrounds, such as Shohreh Aghdashloo or some cast members from Amreeka? As it is, this list looks like it was simply culled together from whatever was considered a box office success, rather than what was an artistic accomplishment
It’s sad that there are so few good parts for African-American actors. That said, there are some fine movies represented, and I think Sandra Bullock’s nomination is both a sign of her momentum and the deep goodwill surrounding her in Hollywood.
Imagine if they tried to scrape together nominees for awards that were only for women in film. That would be really embarrassing. How many directors would be eligible?
Haven’t seen Law Abiding Citizen but agree that no one from 2012 should be nominated for acting.
I think in this case it’s the actors themselves over the performances. Danny Glover, Jamie Foxx, and Chiwetel Ejiofor are all respected and talented actors… who happen to be nominated for poor movies in which their skills aren’t most shown off.
I for one am happy for Sandra, but Nicole Beharie should have received a nomination. I loved American Violet!
what do you mean 2012?
I have never watched these awards, so I’ve never seen a list of nominations until now. It seems to just be a compilation of every black actor who appeared in any movie last year. Do they have any criteria in deciding these things other than the person being black? I can’t imagine that anyone cares to win one of these if that’s the case.
Amen…
just look at Idris Elba, Obsessed. WTF.
lenny kravitz for precious… Danny Glover for 2012- clearly theyre always drawing straws to come up with a list of names
I guess Sandra could take home the Globe for this role!
Yeah I agree with some of the other posters. It’s great to show African-Americans in the cinemas…but for movies like 2012 or Obsessed? Really.
Im shocked they didnt nom BEYONCE for OBSESSED!!! LMAO~ Beyonce please go away for a few years.
i was going to say the exact same thing! LMAO! Beyonce’s omission points to some validity.
Saying a white woman being on the list is any shortcoming of the community is pure bull. You don’t have to be black to be influential in the community. Frankly, I don’t care about any of these things based on color because all it does it separate us all even more. I thought Obama was supposed to change all that…
lol, I bet you’re one of those white people who thinks racism only exists in the south.
a cartoon? Could you be more snobbish? Anika Noni Rose gives a lovely performance in “Princess and the Frog,” especially in her singing, and the film is certainly worthy of recognition.
I know. The “cartoon” is one of the most well reviewed movies of the year, Time magazines #1 film of the year, a return to traditional animation, and the first Disney cartoon to feature an African American princess. It’s not like they nominated Bebe’s Kids.
hahahaha Bebe’s kids!!!!! Nice shout out!
I (mildly) second Jamie’s surprise about Beyoncé not getting nominated (though I don’t share Jamie’s wish that she go away). If you need evidence that Anika Noni Rose deserved her nomination and they weren’t just slot-filling with whatever black actors were available, there you go.
Sandra Bullock is the best African American actress out there.
hahahhahahahhaa!
No kidding! I haven’t seen “The Blind Side”, but from the commercials I’m absolutely buying her as a blonde white woman. Hell of a performance!
lololol!!!!
Wait, why is Baby OJ not nominated for Best Supporting Actor? Travesty!
question: if Sandra Bullock can be nominated for Best Actress for The Blind Side, why cant Matt Damon be nominated for Invictus???
I’m sure Matt Damon CAN be nominated, but he just wasn’t. I guess they were able to find enough African Americans in supporting roles to not have to resort to nominating non-African Americans.
the only person up there for that category that deserve any recongition is Anthony mackie- all the others were either horrible or non existent. I find that theory hard to believe considering the Best Actress nominations… alas, i think we are all looking at this too deeply- it IS the NAACP awards after all
I agree with you paige. I’m just saying it’s obvious they mostly just went with recognizable African American stars, even if their movies were trash. I’m at a bit of a loss, were there any other female African American lead roles this past year?
well people are laughing at the idea of Beyonce being snubbed for Obsessed, and granted it is funny- but in reality, I am surprised she wasnt nominated.
Haha! I forgot about Beyonce in Obsessed. That is pretty surprising that she didn’t score a nomination. And I agree, it’s funny too!
Wow, I didn’t realize how bad a year it was was black actors and actresses. When you nominate ‘name’ actors for crap movies and one of your best ‘actress’ nominees read her lines into a microphone, you know it was a slow year.
Thanks god for 2012, Precious and Princes and the Frog.
Ellen Degeneres and Eddie Murphy both had some Oscar buzz for ‘Finding Nemo’ and ‘Shrek.’ A good performance is a good performance.