Nominations for the 2017 Oscar Awards have been announced and as usual plenty of Jews have made the cut. We know what you are thinking: Whoever heard of a Jewish entertainer?
https://twitter.com/CNN/status/823891492737523713
Will you offer us a hand? Every gift, regardless of size, fuels our future.
Your critical contribution enables us to maintain our independence from shareholders or wealthy owners, allowing us to keep up reporting without bias. It means we can continue to make Jewish Business News available to everyone.
You can support us for as little as $1 via PayPal at [email protected].
Thank you.
So who are this years Jews of the Oscar Awards, or the Academy Awards as they are also known?
Well of the ten men nominated this year for Oscar Awards in the two categories of best actor in a leading role and best actor in a supporting role, only one is Jewish.
Andrew Garfield was nominated for an Oscar for best actor for the movie “Hacksaw Ridge.” His father is Jewish and his family name was originally Garfinkel, like the musician.
Ironically, the movie was directed by notable anti-Semite Mel Gibson. In it Andrew Garfield plays Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector who served as an army medic in World War II and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor without even firing a shot.
Two Jewish actresses, however, have been nominated for Oscar Awards, both in the best actress category. Isabelle Huppert, who already won a Golden Globe award, has been nominated for the Oscar for her performance in the French movie “Elle.” The French actress’ father was Jewish, but she was raised a Catholic. Is she wins the Oscar it will be her first major award since getting a BAFTA for “Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles” back in 1978.
The other is of course Natalie Portman and she is the odds on favorite to win this year. If she does then Portman would have two Oscar Awards in total having previously won for “Black Swan.”
The Israeli born actress was nominated for her performance in the new movie “Jackie.” In it Natalie Portman portrays former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy in the days after the assassination of her husband President John Kennedy.
Portman has already won the Critics’ Choice Award for “Jackie.”
Hailee Steinfeld was snubbed for her performance in the hit comedy “The Edge of Seventeen.”
Somehow not a single Jew was nominated for any of the Oscar Awards in the categories of directing or writing. But Mel Gibson did score a nomination for directing “Hacksaw Ridge.” So it seems that all of those Jews who run Hollywood must have forgiven him.
Also, there will still be no Oscar Awards for Israel as no Israeli film got a nod for best foreign language film this year.
Of the nine movies nominated for best picture this year we could only find two with Jewish producers. The Oscar Awards for the best picture of the year go to the movie’s producers and there are usually a few per film. Jordan Horowitz was one of the producers of the movie “La La Land,” and Shawn Levy and Dan Levine were nominated for co-producing “Arrival.”
If we have left anyone out, please let us know.
So does the lack of Jewish nominees for Oscar Awards this year mean that Jews are losing their grip on Hollywood? We hope not.
