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Dev Patel Makes History With Oscar Nomination For Lion
Indian-origin British actor Dev Patel is making headlines — and not just because this is his first Oscar nomination.
Patel first shot to fame with Danny Boyle’s 2009 Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, and he’s now feeling “overwhelmingly grateful” with the recent nod to his role in Lion.
The Oscar nomination makes Patel go down in history as the third actor of Indian descent to ever receive one in an acting category.
“I’m sitting here with my mouth wide open figuring out how this happened. I’m feeling overwhelmingly grateful right now,” Patel told the BBC following his nomination.
In Lion, Patel plays an Australian-Indian who tries to find his lost family in India with the help of Google maps.
The film is based on the real-life memoir of Saroo Brierley. At five years old, he lost all contact with his family in India when he was at a train station waiting for his brother who never returned.
“The film has opened people to my potential,” Patel said in a recent interview. “After Slumdog Millionaire, it was really hard for me to get quality work.”
The role took six months of preparation, and the actor believes this could be a career-defining moment for him.
“You think it would be easy but it is actually quite a struggle. I felt pigeon-holed. I kept working hard and have been patient for many years now,” said Patel. “So, when a role like this came, I gave everything that I had to do justice to it. It feels really good when it is recognized.”
According to mic.com, the last time an actor of Indian descent received an Oscar nod was over a decade ago, when Ben Kingsley was nominated for his role in House of Sand and Fog. Kingsley received four nominations and won one Oscar.
Prior to that win, Merle Oberon (who tried to conceal her heritage), received a nomination for her role in the 1935 film The Dark Angel.
Patel may be struggling to process the information, but the Oscar nod was a long time coming.
The lack of Asian actors receiving nominations and awards could very well be an accurate depiction of diversity issues in Hollywood.
Main Image Photo Credit: www.variety.com
Nomaan Khan
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After spending some time in a completely different field, Nomaan decided to drop it all and switch to Mohawk College to pursue his longtime interest in the world of Journalism. His experience working in multimedia platforms has helped him develop exceptional skills in thinking on his feet, being ...
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