Love 'em or hate 'em, the Oscars are an institution. When Hollywood annually declares the year’s best achievements in film, the world is watching. Australians and Australian films have been part of that conversation since the first decade of the Academy Awards.
May Robson was the first Australian nominated for an Oscar, for Best Actress in Frank Capra’s Lady for a Day (1933). The first Australian film nominated was also the first to win – Kokoda Front Line! won Best Documentary for the Australian News and Information Bureau in 1942. Australian films Babe (1995), Shine (1996), Moulin Rouge! (2001) and Australia-New Zealand co-production The Piano (1993) were all nominated for Best Picture, as was The Sundowners (1960), made by Warner Bros in Australia during the long production drought of the 1950s and ’60s.
Acting nominations have also been garnered by Australians Cecil Kellaway, Judith Anderson, Toni Collette, Rachel Griffiths, Diane Cilento, Judy Davis and Naomi Watts. And then there are the foreign actors winning Oscars for their work in Australian films: Linda Hunt (The Year of Living Dangerously, 1982), and Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin (both for The Piano, 1993).
Australians have now won all four acting categories at the Oscars: Peter Finch, Geoffrey Rush and Russell Crowe (Actor in 1976, 1996 and 2000); Nicole Kidman (Actress, 2002); Heath Ledger (Supporting Actor, 2008); and Cate Blanchett (Supporting Actress, 2004). Rush was the sole winner for an Australian film (Shine). In a spooky coincidence, the only posthumous acting Oscars have gone to Australians: Peter Finch and Heath Ledger.
Australians are well represented across most other categories, having won Oscars for Costume Design, Cinematography, Art Direction, Visual Effects, Short Film (Animated), Documentary (Feature), Adapted and Original Screenplay, Sound Mixing, Make-up and Animated Feature. If you’re happy to include Mel Gibson, then Australians have won Best Picture and Directing awards too (for Braveheart, 1995). Australians have also been nominated for Documentary (Short Subject), Editing, Short Film (Live Action), Original Score and Original Song. In fact, Sound Editing is the only category in which Australians are yet to be nominated. For more details, see Robert Licuria’s comprehensive website The Ozcars: Australians at the Academy Awards.
Congratulations to 2009’s Australian nominees: Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey for Miracle Fish, Short Film (Live Action); Janet Patterson for Bright Star, Costume Design; and Carolynne Cunningham, a producer on District 9, nominated for Best Picture. Read more about the 82nd Academy Awards on the official site. The awards are held on the afternoon of Monday 8 March, Australian time.
