Academy Awards Introduce New Category for Casting
The Academy Awards will present an Achievement in Casting award in 2026.
In a very rare move, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has confirmed a new category will be added to the mix starting in 2026. Vanity Fair confirms that starting with movies released in 2025, an Academy Award for Achievement in Casting will be handed out during the Oscars ceremony. The award will be given to the Casting Directors for whichever film is voted on by The Academy membership.
"Casting directors play an essential role in filmmaking, and as the Academy evolves, we are proud to add casting to the disciplines that we recognize and celebrate," Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy president Janet Yang said in a statement. "We congratulate our Casting Directors Branch members on this exciting milestone and for their commitment and diligence throughout this process."
Considering the films that were nominated for multiple Academy Awards this year it's not hard to imagine what might be up for the Academy Award for Achievement in Casting in 2024 if it were being presented. Oppenheimer and Poor Things lead with the most nominations this year (13 and 11 respectively), with Killers of the Flower Moon (10) and Barbie (8) following them. It's not hard to imagine a world where all four of these movies would also be nominated in the category of Achievement in Casting if it were present for this year's ceremony.
What remains to be seen however is what the qualifications will end up being for the award, whether something like Oppenheimer will be the favorite because of the all-star ensemble it assembled or if something like The Holdovers would be favored for the award thanks to discovering newcomer Dominic Sessa and bringing Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Paul Giamatti to the forefront of the acting race. There's also the possibility that blockbuster movies like the upcoming Superman: Legacy or Marvel's Fantastic Four could be up for the award due to the popular appeal of the casts for films of that size.
This marks the first time that a new category has been added to the Oscars Ceremony since 2002, when the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature was first introduced. Prior to that award, the last time a new category was created by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was back in 1981 when the Best Makeup Award was finally given out as an annual prize. An American Werewolf in London's Rick Baker was the first to receive it though special Makeup Oscars were awarded in previous years with William J. Tuttle winning in 1964 for 7 Faces of Dr. Lao and John Chambers winning in 1968 for the original Planet of the Apes.
"On behalf of the members of the Casting Directors Branch, we'd like to thank the Board of Governors, the Awards Committee, and Academy leadership for their support," Academy Casting Directors Branch governors Richard Hicks, Kim Taylor-Coleman, and Debra Zane all wrote in a statement. "This award is a deserved acknowledgment of our casting directors' exceptional talents and a testament to the dedicated efforts of our branch."
Further details on the eligibility and voting apparatus for the Academy Award for Achievement in Casting won't be confirmed until April of 2025.
(Photo by Michael Tran/FilmMagic via Getty Images)
