Delroy Lindo, finally an Academy Award-nominated actor, only had to wait five decades to earn the honor — overcoming “strategic missteps” that once threatened to derail his career along the way, he’s said.
Lindo, 73, is a longtime character actor whose appearances on film, television and stage have earned him critical acclaim, even as his industry’s highest honors eluded him. On Thursday, Lindo earned his first Oscar nomination, in the Best Supporting Actor category, for his work in the 2025 blockbuster “Sinners.”
The nomination comes five years after some of the actor’s supporters complained that he’d been “snubbed” by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his work in the Spike Lee film “Da 5 Bloods.”
Lindo was “profoundly disappointed” by getting shut out of the 2021 Oscar nominations for that role, he told Entertainment Weekly on Thursday. Lee, an Oscar-winner himself, also expressed disappointment over Lindo’s lack of awards recognition, commenting in March 2021 on Instagram that it “does not take away from the impact of his work that spans decades.”
Before his Oscars nomination, the actor had a long, well-respected career that included acclaimed performances in notable films such as “The Cider House Rules” and the Lee-directed “Malcolm X” and “Crooklyn.” Still, Lindo has lamented his career floundering for multiple years in the mid-1990s as he developed a reputation as being a “difficult” actor to work with, he’s said.
