The Golden Globe nominations were announced yesterday, and we were excited to see so many women of color nominated for major awards.
The TV category in particular celebrated talented women of color. Issa Rae (Insecure), Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin), and Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish) are all up for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy; Thandie Newton (Westworld) is nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made For Television; and Kerry Washington (Confirmation) is nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television.
On the film side, Ruth Negga (Loving) nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama; and Viola Davis (Fences), Naomie Harris (Moonlight), and Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures) are all nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture.
Men of color also saw a rise in nominations from the previous, with Donald Glover (Atlanta), Anthony Anderson (Black-ish), Gael Garcia Bernal (Mozart in the Jungle), and Riz Ahmed (The Night Of) being nominated as well.
“How wonderful it is to see an awards show so full of diversity, and not just for diversity’s sake but because of the phenomenal performances,” Gina Rodriguez told the LA Times.
As Isha Aran at Fusion points out, this is exciting news — but there’s still a long way to go. Negga is the first woman of color to be nominated for Best Actress in a drama in five years. Three women of color (Davis, Harris and Spencer) are nominated for Best Supporting Actress; that’s more than the last five years of the category combined!
While this is good news, there’s still bad news as well: No people of color are nominated for Best Actor or Best Actress for movie comedies, or for Best Actress in a TV drama. And Mel Gibson is nominated for Best Director, but guess what? Zero women are!
As you should know, awards shows have a history of leaving out people of color, as evidenced by the #OscarsSoWhite conversation. We’re glad to see the Golden Globes take a step towards recognizing talented people of color, but there’s still a long, long way to go.
Top photo: Insecure
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