5) Oscar Isaac For Ex Machina
2016, like 2015 before it, was the year of the whitewash, with no black actor being nominated at the Oscars for a second year running. But did you know Latino actors haven’t been represented at the ceremony since 2012? They, like the black community, have again found themselves without representation in 2016. Not that there weren’t options for voters.
Take Oscar Isaac, for instance, the Guatemalan-born actor who so excels in Alex Garland’s Ex Machina as a sly, sinister tech overlord. This was good Best Supporting Actor nominee material: a complex (check) and troubled (check) yet compelling (check) villain (check) that required the actor to go through a physical transformation (check check check). It would’ve been neat to top a great year for Isaac off with an Oscar nom for his trouble, but it wasn’t to be.
4) Benicio Del Toro For Sicario
Another Latino actor who missed out on a Best Supporting Actor nod this year, Benicio Del Toro had an even greater chance than Isaac of getting down to the last five for his turn in Sicario. But faced with that tough competition, he – like Elba and Isaac, Shannon and Dano – was kept out.
It’s regrettable. Del Toro doesn’t just impress in Denis Villeneuve’s Mexican border thriller – it may be his best performance to date. A bold claim, perhaps, especially regarding a man with Del Toro’s record (The Usual Suspects, Traffic, Che), but considering what he achieves in the film – building from minimal dialogue a character so riveting he was immediately given his own spinoff movie – it might just be true.