Filipino American Winners of the 93rd Academy Awards

Creative Asian Americans including individuals of Filipino descent won Oscar statuettes at Sunday's televised 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) which honored the best films of 2020 and early 2021.

It was the first time the 93rd Academy Awards was held virtually and in-person due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

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H.E.R. won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, "Fight For You" for the motion picture, "Judas and the Black Messiah."  She wrote the song with D'Mile and Tiara Thomas.

She is the first Filipina American woman to win an Academy Award. She is also the second Black woman to win this award, the first being Irene Cara for "Flashdance" in 1983.

Songwriter Robert Lopez, known for his songs on Disney’s “Frozen”, was the first Filipino man to win an Academy Award back in 2014.

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Trevor Jimenez (story supervisor, and an Oscar nominated filmmaker himself for the 2019 animated short film, "Weekends") and the entire cast and crew of Pixar's "Soul" won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

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The rest of the AAPI Academy Award winners are:

"Nomadland" for Best Picture
 - Directed by Chloé Zhao. 

Chloé Zhao for Best Director ("Nomadland")
 - She is the first Asian American woman, first Chinese woman and second woman to win an Oscar in this category 
​ - Kathryn Bigelow was the first female director to win an Oscar in 2010 for her 2008 film “The Hurt Locker."
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​Youn Yuh-jung for Best Supporting Actress ("Minari")
 - She is the second Asian woman to win an acting Oscar since Japanese American actress and singer Miyoshi Umeki won for "Sayonara" in 1958.
 - She is the first Korean (South Korean) actress to win an Oscar.

​NOTE: Steven Yeun (“Minari”) became the first Asian American actor to be nominated for Best Actor. Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”) is the first Muslim to be nominated for Best Actor. It's the first time that there were two Best Actor candidates of Asian heritage.
 - Anthony Hopkins took home the Oscar for Best Actor ("The Father").

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees of the 93rd Academy Awards!