The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has given Academy Awards to actors and actresses for non-English performances in films, with the first award given in 1962. For an actor or actress to be eligible for any of the Academy Awards for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, or Best Supporting Actress for a foreign language performance in a film produced outside the United States, the film must have been commercially released in Los Angeles County and have English subtitles with the theatrical release.
This list is current as of the 98th Academy Awards ceremony held on March 15, 2026.
In 1962, Sophia Loren became the first actor to win an Oscar for a fully non-English spoken language performance.
Statistics , 86 actors and actresses have been nominated for Academy Awards for primarily non-English language performances. 24 of these actors and actresses have received Academy Awards for their performances: Seven actors have won for performances that were mostly or solely spoken in a language other than English: Sophia Loren for Two Women (Italian), Robert De Niro for The Godfather Part II (Sicilian), Roberto Benigni for Life Is Beautiful (Italian), Benicio del Toro for Traffic (Spanish), Marion Cotillard for La Vie en Rose (French), Youn Yuh-jung for Minari (Korean), and Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Pérez (Spanish). Eleven actors have won for multilingual performances mostly spoken in English: Anna Magnani for The Rose Tattoo (English and Italian); both Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli for Cabaret (English and German, either spoken or sung); Ben Kingsley for Gandhi (English and Hindi); Meryl Streep for Sophie's Choice (English, German, and Polish); Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (English and Spanish); Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds (English, German, and French); Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant (English and Pawnee); both Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh for Everything Everywhere All at Once (English and Mandarin—in addition to Cantonese from Yeoh); and Adrien Brody for The Brutalist (English and Hungarian). Six actors have won for performances that were mostly or solely in sign language: Jane Wyman for Johnny Belinda (American Sign Language [ASL]), Patty Duke for The Miracle Worker (ASL), John Mills for Ryan's Daughter (British Sign Language [BSL]), Marlee Matlin for Children of a Lesser God (ASL), Holly Hunter for The Piano (Unique Sign Language), and Troy Kotsur for CODA (ASL).
Seven actors have had multiple Academy Award nominations for non-English language performances: Marcello Mastroianni (three Best Actor nominations for Italian-language performances); Sophia Loren (one Academy Award win for Best Actress for Two Women and another Best Actress nomination for Marriage Italian Style, both for Italian-language performances); Liv Ullmann (two Best Actress nominations for Swedish-language performances); Isabelle Adjani (two Best Actress nominations for French-language performances); Javier Bardem (two Best Actor nominations for Spanish-language performances); Marion Cotillard (one Academy Award win for Best Actress for La Vie en Rose (2007) and another Best Actress nomination for Two Days, One Night (2014), both for French-language performances); and Penélope Cruz (two Best Actress nominations for Spanish-language performances, in addition to her aforementioned multilingual Supporting Actress win).
Sophia Loren and Marion Cotillard are the only actresses to win an Academy Award for Best Actress for non-English language performances—Italian and French, respectively. Cotillard is the only actor to receive two Oscar nominations for foreign films without having either of her films nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and she is also the only actor to be nominated for a Belgian film (Two Days, One Night (2014)).
Roberto Benigni is the only actor to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for a non-English language performance. In supporting categories, Robert De Niro and Benicio Del Toro are the only two Supporting Actors to win for non-English performances, while Youn Yuh-jung and Zoe Saldaña are the only two Supporting Actress winners. Each of these actors’ performances were from Best Picture nominees—except for De Niro, whose film The Godfather Part II (1974) won Best Picture.
Fifteen actors have been nominated for Sign Language performances: Jane Wyman and Lew Ayres for Johnny Belinda; Patty Duke for The Miracle Worker; Alan Arkin for The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter; John Mills for Ryan's Daughter; Lily Tomlin for Nashville; Marlee Matlin, William Hurt, and Piper Laurie for Children of a Lesser God; Holly Hunter for The Piano; Samantha Morton for Sweet and Lowdown; Rinko Kikuchi for Babel; Sally Hawkins for The Shape of Water; Riz Ahmed and Paul Raci for Sound of Metal; and Troy Kotsur for CODA. All used American Sign Language—except for Mills, who used British Sign Language; Kikuchi, who used Japanese Sign Language; and Hunter, who utilized a blended sign language consisting of American, British, Russian, Indigenous, and several newly devised signs created specifically for her character.
In 2026, a record four primarily non-English language performances were nominated for the 98th Academy Awards: Wagner Moura for The Secret Agent (2025) (Portuguese); and Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, and Stellan Skarsgård for Sentimental Value (2025) (Norwegian, Norwegian, and Swedish, respectively). The previous record of three was set in 1976.
Nominees Year(Ceremony) Actor/Actress Category Film title used in nomination Original title Language Result 1948(21st) Best Actress Johnny Belinda Johnny Belinda American Sign Language Best Actor English, American Sign Language Nominee 1955(28th) Best Actress The Rose Tattoo La rosa tatuata English, Italian 1960(33rd) Never on Sunday Ποτέ την Κυριακή Greek, EnglishNominee 1961(34th) Two Women La ciociara Italian 1962(35th) Best Supporting Actress The Miracle Worker The Miracle Worker American Sign Language Best Actor Divorce Italian Style Divorzio all'italiana ItalianNominee 1964(37th) Zorba the Greek Αλέξης Ζορμπάς English, GreekNominee Best Actress Marriage Italian Style Matrimonio all'Italiana ItalianNominee 1966(39th) A Man and a Woman Un homme et une femme FrenchNominee The Shop on Main Street Obchod na korze Slovak, YiddishNominee 1968(41st) Best Actor The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter American Sign LanguageNominee 1970(43rd) Best Supporting Actor Ryan's Daughter Ryan's Daughter British Sign Language 1972(45th) Cabaret Cabaret English, German Best Actress The Emigrants Utvandrarna SwedishNominee 1974(47th) Best Supporting Actor The Godfather Part II The Godfather Part II Sicilian Best Supporting Actress Day for Night La Nuit américaine FrenchNominee 1975(48th) Nashville Nashville English, American Sign LanguageNominee Best Actress The Story of Adele H. L'Histoire d'Adèle H. FrenchNominee Hester Street Hester Street Yiddish, EnglishNominee 1976(49th) Cousin Cousine Cousin, cousine FrenchNominee Face to Face Ansikte mot ansikte SwedishNominee Best Actor Seven Beauties Pasqualino Settebellezze ItalianNominee 1977(50th) A Special Day Una giornata particolareNominee 1978(51st) Best Actress Autumn Sonata Höstsonaten SwedishNominee 1982(55th) Best Actor Gandhi Gandhi English, Hindi Best Actress Sophie's Choice Sophie's Choice English, German, Polish 1986(59th) Children of a Lesser God Children of a Lesser God American Sign Language Best Actor English, American Sign Language Nominee Best Supporting Actress Nominee 1987(60th) Best Actor Dark Eyes Oci ciornie ItalianNominee 1988(61st) Pelle the Conqueror Pelle Erobreren SwedishNominee 1989(62nd) Best Actress Camille Claudel Camille Claudel FrenchNominee 1990(63rd) Best Actor Cyrano de Bergerac Cyrano de BergeracNominee Graham Greene Best Supporting Actor Dances with Wolves Dances with Wolves LakotaNominee 1992(65th) Best Actress Indochine Indochine FrenchNominee 1993(66th) The Piano The Piano Original Sign Language 1994(67th) Nell Nell IdioglossiaNominee 1995(68th) Best Actor Il Postino: The Postman Il Postino ItalianNominee 1998(71st) Life Is Beautiful La vita è bella Best Actress Central Station Central do Brasil PortugueseNominee 1999(72nd) Best Supporting Actress Sweet and Lowdown Sweet and Lowdown American Sign LanguageNominee 2000(73rd) Best Actor Before Night Falls Before Night Falls SpanishNominee Best Supporting Actor Traffic Traffic 2003(76th) Best Supporting Actress House of Sand and Fog House of Sand and Fog English, PersianNominee Best ActorNominee 2004(77th) Best Actress Maria Full of Grace María llena eres de gracia SpanishNominee 2006(79th) Volver VolverNominee Best Supporting Actress Babel Babel English, SpanishNominee Japanese Sign LanguageNominee 2007(80th) Best Actress La Vie en Rose La Môme French 2008(81st) Best Supporting Actress Vicky Cristina Barcelona Vicky Cristina Barcelona English, Spanish 2009(82nd) Best Supporting Actor Inglourious Basterds Inglourious Basterds English, German, French 2010(83rd) Best Actor Biutiful Biutiful SpanishNominee 2011(84th) A Better Life A Better Life English, SpanishNominee 2012(85th) Best Actress Amour Amour FrenchNominee 2013(86th) Best Supporting Actor Captain Phillips Captain Phillips English, SomaliNominee 2014(87th) Best Actress Two Days, One Night Deux jours, une nuit FrenchNominee 2015(88th) Best Actor The Revenant The Revenant English, Pawnee 2016(89th) Best Actress Elle Elle FrenchNominee 2017(90th) Best Actor Call Me by Your Name Call Me by Your Name English, French, ItalianNominee Best Actress The Shape of Water The Shape of Water American Sign LanguageNominee 2018(91st) Roma Roma Spanish, MixtecNominee Best Supporting Actress SpanishNominee 2019(92nd) Best Actor Pain and Glory Dolor y GloriaNominee 2020(93rd) Sound of Metal Sound of Metal English, American Sign LanguageNominee Best Supporting ActorNominee Best Actor Minari 미나리 Korean, EnglishNominee Best Supporting Actress 2021(94th) Best Actress Parallel Mothers Madres paralelas SpanishNominee Best Supporting Actor CODA CODA American Sign Language 2022(95th) Everything Everywhere All at OnceEverything Everywhere All at Once English, Mandarin ChineseBest Actress English, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese 2023(96th)Killers of the Flower MoonKillers of the Flower MoonEnglish, OsageNomineeAnatomy of a FallAnatomie d'une chuteEnglish, FrenchNominee 2024(97th)Best Supporting ActorAnoraAnoraEnglish, RussianNomineeBest ActorThe BrutalistThe Brutalist English, HungarianBest Supporting ActressNominee Emilia PérezEmilia Pérez Spanish, English Karla Sofía GascónBest ActressNomineeI'm Still HereAinda Estou Aqui PortugueseNominee2025 (98th)Wagner MouraBest ActorThe Secret AgentO Agente SecretoNomineeRenate ReinsveBest ActressSentimental ValueAffeksjonsverdiNorwegian, EnglishNomineeInga Ibsdotter LilleaasBest Supporting ActressNomineeStellan SkarsgårdBest Supporting ActorSwedish, EnglishNominee
Notes The film was produced in the United States and/or contains primarily English dialogue. Although his role contained simultaneously spoken English dialogue, Lew Ayres utilized American Sign Language throughout his performance during Jane Wyman's titular character's ASL tutelage in Johnny Belinda (1948). Both Sophia Loren and Liv Ullmann were recipients of the Academy Honorary Award, in 1991 and 2022, respectively. Despite being a hearing character who spoke English, Lily Tomlin utilized ASL to communicate with her character's two deaf children. Although their parts contained simultaneously spoken English dialogue, William Hurt and Piper Laurie also utilized American Sign Language throughout their performances opposite Marlee Matlin in Children of a Lesser God (1986).