Oscar nominations 2021: Viola Davis and Riz Ahmed react to being included in this year’s list

Oscar nominations 2021: Viola Davis and Riz Ahmed react to being included in this year’s list: ‘Absolutely thrilled!’

Viola Davis made history on Monday morning after she was nominated for her fourth Oscar – the most number of overall acting nominations for a black women in the history of Hollywood.

Viola, 55, who was nominated for Best Actress for her performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, said she was ‘absolutely thrilled.’

The Oscar award winning actress shared her excitement on her Instagram page, writing: ‘Congratulations to the whole @MaRaineyFilm team!’

Well deserved: Viola Davis made history on Monday morning after she was nominated for her fourth Oscar – the most number of overall acting nominations for a black women in the history of Hollywood

Fellow nominee Riz Ahmed also made history as the first Muslim nominated for lead actor at the Oscars, the LA Times reported.

The actor is up for Best Actor for his performance in Sound of Metal.

In 2017, Mahershala Ali became the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar; he took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Moonlight. 

He won Best Supporting Actor again in 2019 for his film Green Book. 

Happy: Fellow nominee Riz Ahmed also made history as the first Muslim nominated for lead actor at the Oscars, the LA Times reported

Happy: Fellow nominee Riz Ahmed also made history as the first Muslim nominated for lead actor at the Oscars, the LA Times reported

Riz took to his Instagram to react; the 38-year-old actor shared several snaps from the films with a lengthy caption.

He said: Wow! I’m honoured to be nominated by my fellow actors alongside such inspiring performances, and am grateful to the Academy for their support and encouragement. I’m equally thrilled for our visionary writer-director Darius Marder and the brilliant Paul Raci, as well as our editor Mikkel, sound designer Nicolas, and co-writer Abe Marder.’ 

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