The veteran actor and two-time Oscar winner played his Fences character on Broadway, where he won a Tony Award, and is now going for Academy Awards gold.

The Irish-Ethiopian actress shot to the top of the Hollywood A-list this year thanks to her quiet but powerful performance as Mildred Loving in the civil rights biopic Loving.

Viola Davis received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress in the film Fences, brought to the big screen by her co-star Denzel Washington. The actress won a Tony Award in 2010 for her portrayal as Rose Maxson during her Broadway performance of Fences prior to it being brought to Hollywood.

Octavia Spencer played Dorothy Vaughan, one of three African-American female mathematicians at NASA who were critical during the 1960s Space Race, in the film Hidden Figures. Her performance was so rousing that she is being honored with an Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category. The actress currently has an Academy Award under her belt for her role as Minny Jackson in The Help.

The British actress earned raves for her performance as a drug-afflicted mother in Moonlight. 

Ali's role as Juan in this coming-of-age drama already earned him a Golden Globe nomination and is one of the most talked-about performances of the year. 

The biopic about the Black women who were instrumental in putting a man on the moon took Hollywood by storm, beat Star Wars at the box office and is now a contender for the top prize at the Oscars.

Moonlight has been lauded as one of the most heartfelt and celebrated films of 2016 — continuing into 2017 — and the film and its cast have already been honored by the Hollywood elite. The film recently won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama and is currently nominated for seven Academy Awards. The nomination for film editing, which is to Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders, marks the first time a Black woman received a nomination in this category.

The Tony-winning Broadway revival of August Wilson's play was beautifully adapted for the big screen by director Denzel Washington and is now nominated for multiple Oscars.

The independent filmmaker earned pretty much universal raves for this film, which he also co-wrote. Jenkins made history as the first Black filmmaker to earn a trifecta of nominations for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Screenplay.

Young's work on Arrival, also a Best Picture nominee, earned him a historic first Oscar nod for a Black cinematographer in Academy Awards history.

I Am Not Your Negro is being deemed the dark horse in this year's awards season. The Raoul Peck documentary film, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, delves into the history of race relations in America through the eyes of James Baldwin.

Ava DuVernay gave race relations in the United States criminal justice system a true voice in the Netflix original documentary 13th. The doc, which is titled after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, received major critical acclaim upon its release from both critics and viewers alike.

That two major works about O.J. Simpson could be awards contenders in the same year speaks to the power of his story and the impact it had on culture. This multi-part documentary went beyond the trial and took a deep dive into how society constructed the notorious NFL player.

Roger Ross Williams, the director of this documentary about a child dealing with autism, already won an Oscar for his documentary short, Music by Prudence.