LOS ANGELES (KABC) — From 1929 to the present, there have been a total of 13,445 individuals nominated for the esteemed Academy Awards. Shockingly, only 6% of these nominees were people of color, while a mere 17% were women. Additionally, less than 2% of the nominees were women of color.
That’s according to data from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which tracks race and gender representation at the Oscars.
OSCARS 2025: See the full list of Academy Awards nominees
Although the University of Southern California has not yet revealed any statistics regarding the 2025 Oscars, historical data from past award seasons indicates that there is still significant progress needed to achieve complete gender and racial diversity in Oscar nominations.
In the previous year, 20% of the Oscar nominees were people of color, representing one in five nominees, despite people of color making up 42% of the total U.S. population according to the most recent census data. The highest percentage of people of color nominees was recorded in 2021, with 24% of the nominees being individuals of color.
The gender breakdowns are more promising. 2024 tied the record for the most women nominated in Oscar history at 32%. Women comprise 50.5% of the U.S. population.
Staff at USC Annenberg were inspired to track the data following the 2015 #OscarsSoWhite campaign — a social media movement that called attention to the underrepresentation of people of color and woman among Oscar nominees and winners.
April Reign, who created the hashtag, told WABC last year that she came up with the idea while watching television during Oscar season. That year, people of color received zero nominations in the four acting categories.
“I was watching the Oscar nominations on one of those morning TV shows and it struck me that category after category there were no people of color nominated,” Reign said.
It didn’t take long for her hashtag to go viral and leave a lasting impact.
“Were you surprised and how quickly that took off?” WABC reporter TaRhonda Thomas asked Reign last year.
“No, to be honest with you,” Reign said.
VIDEO: Revisiting ‘Oscars So White’ 10 years later
The USC data shows racial representation has improved in the nine years since the #OscarsSoWhite campaign compared to the nine years before. Prior to #OscarsSoWhite, just 9.5% of nominees were people of color. Since then, the number has risen to 17%.
The largest gains were made in the categories for Best Documentary Feature, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor.
USC’s data for the 2025 Oscar season could be released as soon as March.
March 2 is Oscar Sunday! Watch the 2025 Oscars live on ABC and Hulu.
Live red carpet coverage starts at 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT with “On The Red Carpet at the Oscars.”
Watch all the action on the red carpet live on ABC, streaming live on OnTheRedCarpet.com and on the On the Red Carpet Facebook and YouTube pages.
The 97th Oscars, hosted by Conan O’Brien, begins at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. and will be followed by a special preview of “American Idol.”
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