Mahershala Ali becomes the 2nd black actor to win multiple acting Oscars


Mahershala Ali just won the 2019 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, becoming only the second black actor in history to win more than one acting Oscar.
Ali won the same Best Supporting Actor prize just two years ago for Moonlight and has now earned a second win for his performance in Green Book. The only other black actor to win more than one Oscar in the acting categories is Denzel Washington. Washington won Best Supporting Actor in 1990 for Glory and Best Actor in 2002 for Training Day. Ali is the first black actor to win two Best Supporting Actor awards.
When Ali won in 2017 for Moonlight, he also became the first Muslim actor to ever win the award. By taking another Oscar just two years later, Gold Derby notes that Ali has won back-to-back Academy Awards quicker than any actor since Tom Hanks, who won for Philadelphia in 1994 and Forrest Gump the following year.
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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
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