BEST ACTRESS
Lead roles for women of color are about as scarce as unicorns and leprechauns so finding even one actress for this category was a tough one but I did it. Gugu Mbatha-Raw had a pretty darn snazzy year and hardly anyone noticed because her two films that she was the star of didn’t get all that much mainstream attention. Towards the end of the year, Mbatha-Raw starred as a troubled pop singer in BEYOND THE LIGHTS. The movie was well-reviewed and Mbatha-Raw received almost universal praise for giving a fearless and powerhouse performance. If that is not enough, she also had the lead role in BELLE earlier in the year and again it was another well-reviewed film that saw Mbatha-Raw being praised as the best feature of a really good movie. So you mean to tell me The Academy couldn’t have given a nomination to a young starlet on the rise who showed an amazing amount of range with two completely different roles in the same year? At a certain point these Academy voters are going to have to start looking outside of some of the familiar names or hyped films and give a little shine to deserving actors that are not as well known. It may require a little legwork but it would help establish future stars.
Crustula 
When was the last time a black director was nominated for anything none persecution related?
The industry seriously needs to diversify.
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That is a very good point. It seems that there needs to be an element of racial hardship to the piece to get a black director a nod.
And let’s not even get started on Asian actors/directors/writers who tend to be completely ignored if their name isn’t Ang Lee.
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Well this is what makes me laugh because I was checking my top ten films of the year. Every single one was directed by a white man. Even the Raid 2 was directed by a Welsh guy.
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I was so shocked when I found out that Gareth Evans was the director of the The Raid films. I was thinking the guy who made Ong Bak was the director or something.
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Hey, glad to see people still talking about this. It’s not just an Oscar problem, but an industry problem!
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Exactly. There really needs to come a time when we get more diversity in major studio tentpole films both in front and behind the camera.
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