Could Black Women Win the Same Acting Prize 3 Years in a Row?

Once can be written off. Twice can be explained. Three starts to look like a trend.

The Academy Awards’ supporting actress race is quietly approaching that kind of tipping point. With Teyana Taylor and Wunmi Mosaku both in contention, the Oscars could soon deliver something that has never happened before: three Black women winning the same acting category consecutively. If Taylor wins for “One Battle After Another,” or Mosaku wins for “Sinners,” it would mark the first time in the Academy’s 98-year history that Black women have won best supporting actress three years in a row. They would follow the triumphs of Da’Vine Joy Randolph for “The Holdovers” and Afro-Latina Zoe Saldaña for “Emilia Pérez.”

In the context of Oscar history, it would carry enormous weight, since no Black actresses have ever won three consecutive years — in the same category — at any major entertainment ceremony, including the Emmys and Tonys. Currently in the Broadway realm, Kara Young has won two consecutive Tonys, most recently for “Purpose,” following her win for “Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch.” Perhaps the three-peat streak can continue in this year’s Tonys race where theater hopefuls such as Samira Wiley (“Proof”), Anika Noni Rose (“The Balusters”) and Kristolyn Lloyd (“Liberation”) will be looking to contend.

The showings for Black actresses in the entertainment space have been dire. Since the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929, more than 3,100 Oscar statuettes have been awarded. Only 20 are held by Black women — roughly 0.6% of the total. To put it in further context, the number of Black actresses who have won Oscars (10) is less than the number of nominations Meryl Streep has received throughout her career (21). It’s a blunt measure of how often the industry’s most premier honor has overlooked Black women, particularly in acting categories, which shape careers…