Been looking over previous nominees and I think the most striking instance for me of someone who should be up there with these names is Chiwetel Ejiofor

Ejiofor gives such a raw, harrowing, open wound of a performance in 12 YEARS A SLAVE that I could've sworn he *did* win the Oscar for it, especially the way that we talk about him.

Crazy because 12 years a Slave won Best Picture that year.

HE WAS AMAZING . Was McConaugheys year tho. Gyllenhaal wasn’t even nominated for Nightcrawler. Nor Plemons this year Matthew

Wonderful actor. Steve McQueen is terribly under appreciated as well

Lets not forget him for this role...

Chiwetel brings his A game to every role he gets. You see his name in the cast, you know it will be worth watching for his performance alone.

He aint getting enough big roles unfortunately

Hopefully y'all stop mentioning Leo should have won for Wolf of Wall Street. Cause clearly Ejiofor was the choice if they didn't go Matthew. People on this app just find WOWS more rewatchable (understandable) than 12 Years a Slave. However, thats the better performance.

Y’all’s affinity for African Brits in slave roles is unnatural 😂

He lost to one note Matthew McConaughey. Who plays the same character in every movie.

don’t bring up an African when you see a black American winning things. Jealousy is an ugly color.

I will agree bc he did win the BAFTA right? but he was up against Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club so I don't think that was gonna happen + very much before OscarsSoWhite but its also a slave role so who knows

He should have won that year and McQueen should have won Best Director

He was powerful in that movie. I could only watch it once and that’s a testament to how it affected me.

The truth is not one vs the other -- many should be up there. The fact that there are only six males is particularly throublesome -and some (i.e., Denzel, Will, etc.) should have won more. Ejiofor is absolutely an award winner in my book- I hope he gets there too.

Samuel L Jackson also has never won a competitive Oscar either which I’m surprised by

i think the ship has sailed on black folk winning the award for slave roles ngl. optics are horrendous

I am a MBJ fan but that movie was 1000x the movie sinners was and Chiwetel’s performance was 1000000x Michael B Jordan’s performance.

and maybe djimon honsou in blood diamonds

I've always been saying that he was robbed of the Oscar that year. Matthew McConaughey's oscar was a novelty due to the "McConaissance" comeback thing he had going for him at the time. Pure white privilege to win for a performance that is fine but not magnificent just due to hype

He had one good movie and it was literally a slave movie (which no one makes anymore)

He's a fantastic actor and has been awesome in 12 Years, Othello, and Dancing on the Edge. But he went against some heavyweights that year in McConaughey (who was also great), Bale, Leo, and Dern.

It doesn't get talked about much, but he was incredible in a TV movie called "Tsunami-the Aftermath", a dramatization of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Highly recommend. He plays a father who lost his son to the wave, and he & his wife grieve, blame each other, etc. 5 stars.

He’s vanished? Was in… The Life of Chuck? Been a fan since Firefly.

A Criminally underrated actor!

Ya. He was deserving.

This movie and performance was life changing fr. Never looked at American history, film or the human spirt the same after watching this. They might need to do a revote on this one, no disrespect to the winner.

He should have won for RED BELT.

Add Jeffrey Wright....a I'm good

Unfortunately, that year was an extremely tough one, to the point where, to me, Leonardo DiCaprio's best perforamnce in his career didn't even win the Oscar. Chiwetel Ejiofor would have won the Oscar over Daniel Day-Lewis if 12 Years a Slave was released in 2012 instead of 2013.

Definitely over Jordan if you ask me

The Oscars were doing their normal Oscars So White thing. They got Best Picture but not Best Director or Best Actor. They got robbed.

BAFTA got it right when they rewarded him for 12 Years A Slave

great example. MBJ sucks