Entertainment

Davis could become first non-white winner of best actress

Viola Davis could make history in Bafta category where every winner of the award so far has been white.
Viola Davis could make history in Bafta category where every winner of the award so far has been white. Viola Davis could make history in Bafta category where every winner of the award so far has been white.

Viola Davis could make history at this year’s Baftas.

The star of Widows has been nominated for best actress, and victory would make her the first non-white woman ever to win the award.

She is also the first non-white woman to be nominated in the category since 2012 – when Davis herself got a nod for the film The Help.

2019 will be the 51st time the award for best actress in a leading role has been presented.

SHOWBIZ Bafta
SHOWBIZ Bafta (PA Graphics)

The other nominees in this category are Glenn Close for The Wife, Lady Gaga for A Star is Born, Melissa McCarthy for Can You Ever Forgive Me? and Olivia Colman for The Favourite.

There are no non-white nominees in the best supporting actress category, and just one for best supporting actor: Mahershala Ali for Green Book.

In the best actor category, Rami Malek has been nominated for his role as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.

Malek, an Egyptian American, is up against British actors Steve Coogan and Christian Bale, the Danish American actor Viggo Mortensen, and the American Bradley Cooper.

The  EE British Academy Film Awards take place on Sunday, February 10.