Afro-Latina actress Zoe Saldaña won an Oscar for Best Actress in Supporting Role and costume designer Paul Tazewell made history as the first Black man to win the award for Best Costume Design during Sunday’s 97th annual Academy Awards ceremony, broadcast live from Los Angeles.
Other memorable moments in the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles: A tribute to late music producer Quincy Jones by “The Color Purple” costars Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, and actor Morgan Freeman’s tribute to his late friend Gene Hackman, who was found dead at home last week.
Saldaña won for her work in Netflix’s Spanish-language musical “Emilia Pérez” and Tazewell for his work with the Universal Pictures’ musical “Wicked.” They were the two Black artists to take home statuettes from the ceremony hosted by comedian Conan O’Brien, and broadcast on ABC and livestreamed on Hulu. Saldaña and Tazewell were among the nine Black people nominated at the 2025 Academy Awards. This year, there were no Black women nominated for Oscars in non-acting categories for filmmakers.
In “Emilia Pérez,” Saldaña plays morally conflicted attorney Rita Mora Castro, who is based in Mexico. It was Saldaña’s first Oscar nomination. Saldaña, who identifies as Afro-Latina, was handed her Academy Award by Black actress Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who won an Oscar in the same category in 2024 for her role in the Focus Features comedy/drama “The Holdovers.”
Tazewell’s award came as a result of his second Oscar nomination. He was previously nominated for Best Costume Design for the 2021 remake of the movie musical “West Side Story.” In addition to becoming the first Black man to win his award, he also was the second Black person to win an Oscar for Best Costume Design. Ruth E. Carter was the first to break this racial barrier when she won for Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther” in 2019, and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” in 2023.
Meanwhile, the Black-oriented movies that had multiple Oscar nominations in 2025—Orion Pictures’ drama “Nickel Boys” and A24’s drama “Sing Sing”—did not win any Oscars. “Nickel Boys,” nominated for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, is based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2019 novel The Nickel Boys, about two teenage boys who become friends in an abusive reform school in Florida. “Nickel Boys” director/co-writer RaMell Ross was the only Black person to get an Oscar nod for the movie. He was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and shared the nomination with “Nickel Boys” producer Joslyn Barnes, who is white.
“Sing Sing,” starring Colman Domingo and based on a true story about incarcerated men in a prison theater group, was shut out of the winners’ list in all three categories where it was nominated. Along with Domingo, who was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Black artists John “Divine G” Whitfield and Clarence Maclin were nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Abraham Alexander for Best Original Song, for “Like a Bird.”
“Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo, who played green-skinned witch Elphaba Thropp in this “Wizard of Oz” prequel movie, was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Kris Bowers of Universal Pictures/DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot” is another Black artist who missed out on winning an Oscar in 2025, losing in the category of Best Original Score. Bowers won an Oscar for Best Documentary Short Film in 2024 for co-directing “The Last Repair Shop.”
The Academy Award nominations and winners are voted for by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which has more than 10,500 members worldwide and are described by the Academy as “film industry artists and leaders.” The Academy does not release statistics on the number of Black members it has and instead publicly identifies its racial categories for members as “white” and “non-white.” According to a 2022 report by data company Statista, 81% of Academy members identify as white, and 19% identify as non-white.
Saldaña referred to her Dominican American heritage in her acceptance speech.
“My grandmother came to this country in 1961,” said a teary-eyed Saldaña. “I am a proud child of immigrant parents with dreams and dignity and hard-working hands. I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award. And I know I will not be the last. I hope.”
She added, “The fact that I am getting an award for a role where I got to sing and speak in Spanish, my grandmother, if she were here, she would be so delighted. This is for my grandmother.”
Backstage in the Oscars press room, Saldaña commented on what she’s learned in her journey to winning an Oscar: “Realizing that it’s not about the win. And when you let that go, and it is about the work, day in and day out, the day that you do win, you just have a deeper appreciation for it. And you have appreciated every experience and every moment that has led you here.”
When asked what was the largest obstacle that she’s ever had to overcome to winning an Oscar, Saldaña replied: “I think it was myself. Yes, there are so many external factors that can impede you from moving forward—if you stop moving forward. I had a hard time sometimes [with] getting out of my own way. Self-sabotaging.”
She continued, “And not listening to my voice. We have an instinct. And that instinct that keeps us from falling … that’s the same instinct that when you’re reading a script or you’re meeting someone, and you know that you’re right for that part. And you know that you being a part of that is going to be something really special. … Like my husband says, ‘Throw myself into the unknown and see what comes of it.’ And I’m having a lot more fun when I do that.”
Tazewell got a standing ovation from the audience when he declared during his acceptance speech that he was the first Black man to win an Oscar for Best Costume Design. Tazewell addressed the “Wicked” cast members, saying “Thank you for trusting me to bring your characters to life.”
Backstage in the Oscars press room, Tazewell elaborated on his Academy Award victory and what it means for Black costume designers: “This is the pinnacle of my career. I’ve been designing costumes for over 35 years. Much has been on Broadway, and now into film.”
He continued, “And the whole way through, there was never a Black male designer that I could follow, that I could see as inspiration. And to realize that’s actually me [breaking this barrier], that’s actually a Wizard of Oz moment. There’s no place like home. So to actually come back to the inspiration being inside of me is really remarkable.”
Tazwell said he’s been inspired by Black designers Ann Lowe and “Black Panther” Oscar winner Carter as among those who are his greatest inspirations.
In the tribute to Quincy Jones, who died at home in Los Angeles last November of cancer, Oprah Winfrey said: “Quincy was love lived out loud in human form, and he poured that love into others and into his work. My life changed forever and for the better after meeting him.”
Morgan Freeman, who starred with his friend Gene Hackman in “Under Suspicion” and “Unforgiven,” paid tribute to his friend, whose body was found last week at his home in New Mexico, along with the bodies of his wife, Betsy Arakawa, and a pet dog. Police are investigating.
Freeman told the audience that working with Hackman was a pleasure.
“Like everyone who’s ever shared a scene with him, I learned he was a generous performer and a man whose gifts elevated everyone’s work,” Freeman said.
Musical performances at the ceremony included “Wicked” co-stars Erivo and Ariana Grande, who opened the show with a medley of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “Home” and “Defying Gravity.” Doja Cat did a solo performance of “Diamonds Are Forever” as part of a multi-artist medley of James Bond movie theme songs. Queen Latifah sang “Ease on Down the Road” from “The Wiz” musical as a tribute to Quincy Jones, who was a music supervisor and songwriter for the 1978 movie version of “The Wiz.”
In addition to Randolph, Halle Berry, Sterling K. Brown, Whoopi Goldberg, Samuel L. Jackson, Saldaña, and Oprah Winfrey also presented awards.
A complete list of winners can be found at the official Academy Awards website.
