Chadwick Boseman Receives Two Posthumous Nominations at Critics’ Choice Awards 2021

Chadwick Boseman on Monday became the first actor to receive two posthumous nominations in the same year at the 26th Critics’ Choice Awards. After receiving his first Golden Globe nomination for his role opposite Viola Davis in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Boseman became a first-time Critics’ Choice double nominee for Best Actor (Ma Rainey’s) and Best Supporting Actor (Da 5 Bloods). The 43-year-old Black Panther and Avengers star died in August after a private, four-year battle with colon cancer. During his illness, Boseman filmed the Spike Lee-directed Da 5 Bloods, where he plays Stormin’ Norman, and Ma Rainey’s, where he plays Levee Green in his final film role.

Best Actor nominees include Boseman (Ma Rainey’s, Netflix), Ben Affleck, (The Way Back, Warner Bros), Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal, Amazon Studios), Tom Hanks, (News of the World, Universal Pictures), Anthony Hopkins (The Father, Sony Pictures Classics), Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods, Netflix), Gary Oldman, (Mank, Netflix), and Steven Yeun (Minari, A24).

Boseman is also nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Da 5 Bloods), and competes against Sacha Baron Cohen (The Trial of the Chicago 7, Netflix), Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah, Warner Bros), Bill Murray (On the Rocks, A24/Apple TV+), Leslie Odom Jr. (One Night in Miami, Amazon Studios), and Paul Raci (Sound of Metal).

Boseman’s Da 5 Bloods filmmaker Spike Lee is nominated for Best Director alongside Lee Isaac Chung (Minari), Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman, Focus Features), David Fincher (Mank), Regina King (One Night in Miami), Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7), and Chloé Zhao (Nomadland, Searchlight Pictures).

Both of Boseman’s films will compete for Best Picture, where the nominees are Mank, Minari, News of the World, Nomadland, One Night in Miami, Promising Young Woman, Sound of Metal, and The Trial of the Chicago 7.

Boseman’s award-nominated performances in Ma Rainey’s and Da 5 Bloods could make him the first person to earn two posthumous acting nominations in the same year at the 93rd Academy Awards, which will unveil its nominees on March 15. The Oscars ceremony airs April 25 live on ABC.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Da 5 Bloods are now streaming on Netflix.