Daniel Kaluuya first came to notice as Posh Kenneth in the British TV series Skins and now he has won an Oscar.
Prior to landing the best supporting actor prize for his role as Black Panther leader Fred Hampton in Judas And The Black Messiah, Kaluuya, 32, has been making a name for himself in Hollywood.
His first film role was in the 2006 BBC Films feature drama Shoot The Messenger, before he joined the cast of Skins for the first two series and wrote two of the episodes.
He made his stage debut at the Royal Court Theatre in Sucker Punch in 2010, which won him newcomer prizes and in 2011 he landed a role in Black Mirror, in the Fifteen Million Merits episode, opposite Downton Abbey’s Jessica Brown Findlay.
He went on to appear in Welcome To The Punch, Kick-Ass 2 and Sicario, but it was his role in Jordan Peele’s 2017 horror satire Get Out which launched him into the big time, landing him his first Oscar nomination.
Since then he has become an international star, with roles in Marvel film Black Panther, Steve McQueen’s heist thriller Widows and drama Queen & Slim.
But it was his role as the chairman of the Illinois Black Panther party that has brought him his first Academy Award.
It's official! #Oscars pic.twitter.com/Nbygh3eu22
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) April 26, 2021
He stars opposite Lakeith Stanfield, who is also nominated in the supporting actor category as FBI informant Bill O’Neal, who infiltrated the Black Panther Party.
Hampton was shot and killed by police during an apartment raid in 1969 when he was 21.
Kaluuya has said the role was “humbling”, adding: “When I really took in the scope of his ideas, his concepts, his beliefs, his love for the people, I felt honoured to step into, to spiritually, step into this position for this narrative and to be a part of continuing the legacy in my medium.”
Kaluuya said Hampton, who rose to prominence for his work with the Panthers in Chicago, had an “internal revolution” and was “free within his own mind, within his own spirit, within his own soul”.
Well said, Daniel. #Oscars pic.twitter.com/YoEvjftY5b
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) April 26, 2021
He added: “(Hampton) wanted to give the people the tools to be free within themselves.
“To free themselves with education, with food, with legal aid, with all these tools that they put in place, the strategies they put in place to promote internal liberation as well as community.”
Kaluuya is tipped to reunite with Get Out director Peele next year, for a new horror project, that will also star Steven Yeun and Keke Palmer.
