The 2021 Oscars delivered a string of history-making moments, following a slate of nominations that smashed records for diversity and representation.
Here are the milestones reached in this year’s awards:
– Chloe Zhao is only the second woman in the history of the Oscars to be named best director, which she won for her film Nomadland
Her triumph comes 11 years after Kathryn Bigelow became the first ever woman to win best director, for the film The Hurt Locker.
Chloe Zhao is also the first Chinese director to win the award.
– Yuh-Jung Youn is the first person from South Korea to win best supporting actress, for the film Minari
She is also the second Asian actress to win the award.
The first was Miyoshi Umeki, who won in 1958 for the film Sayonara.
– Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson are the first black women to win the Oscar for best make-up and hairstyling
Along with Sergio Lopez-Rivera, they collected the award for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
– Daniel Kaluuya is the first British non-white winner of best supporting actor
He is only the sixth non-white actor to win the award.
Denzel Washington was the first, for the film Glory in 1990.
– Emerald Fennell is the first British woman to win best original screenplay since the category was established in its current form at the 1958 Oscars
She picked up the award for Promising Young Woman, for which she also bagged a nomination for best director.
Before 1958, the Oscars had separate categories for original screenplay and original story and, during this era, British writer Muriel Box became the first ever woman to win original screenplay, for The Seventh Veil in 1947.
– Anthony Hopkins, 83, is now the oldest person to win an acting Oscar, after being named best actor for his performance in The Father
It is Hopkins’ second Oscar, coming 29 years after he won best actor in 1992 for The Silence Of The Lambs.
This is the longest gap between wins by any actor in this category in the history of the Academy Awards.
