Delroy Lindo’s First Oscar Nomination is Beautiful — But Also Decades Late

"It feels terrific. I'm still processing, if I'm really honest, but it's wonderful,” Delroy Lindo told Good Morning America hosts shortly after he was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as blues musician Delta Slim in Ryan Coogler’s period horror drama, Sinners. “And part of my response has to do with how positive everybody else's response has been. A lot of support, a lot of love. It feels really good." It was also really late. Like, really, really late. 

Delroy Lindo should not be getting his first Oscar nod at 73 — not when his greatness has been obvious for a long time. But hey, what’s understood doesn’t have to be spoken, right? 

Here’s what’s understood: Delroy Lindo has been one of our finest actors for the better part of the last five decades. 

He began his career in the theatre during the mid-1970s, playing roles in productions like Of Mice and Men and Ntozake Shange’s Spell No. 7 before making the leap to Hollywood in the early 1980s. He landed early roles in a mixed bag of films like the woeful sequel More American Graffiti and TV shows like the hit fantasy-romance Beauty & The Beast. Performances in richer fare, such as Mountains Of the Moon and 1991’s underrated The Hard Way, began to hint at the depths of Lindo’s range and charisma. And it was in 1992’s Malcolm X that he delivered what would become a breakout performance as West Indian Archie, a menacing but thoughtful criminal kingpin and early mentor/rival to Denzel Washington’s would-be scoundrel-turned-civil-rights icon Malcolm Little, later known as Malcolm X. 

Following the success and acclaim of Malcolm X, Lindo reunited with director Spike Lee for 1994's Crooklyn, a sentimental look at a Brooklyn family in the 1970s in which Lindo starred as patriarch Woody Carmichael. His performance as the struggling, idealistic jazz musician is as heartfelt as it is real — and proof positive that he was rapidly becoming one of the 1990s best character actors. 

He would spend the rest of the decade garnering further acclaim in films like Get Shorty and The Cider House Rules, while also delivering scene-stealing performances in box office hits like Broken Arrow and The Devil’s Advocate. Within a decade of his breakthrough as West Indian Archie, he’d carved out of Hollywood’s most enviable resumes. 

It would only continue into the 2000s and culminate in the 2010s, when Lindo reunited again with Lee for Da 5 Bloods in 2020. His intensely layered performance as troubled Vietnam vet Paul was gripping, poignant and disturbing — alongside an all-star cast that included Clark Peters, Isiah Whitlock, Jonathan Majors and the late Chadwick Boseman.

Lindo has his bona fides. And to be certain, he’s been recognized by a host of awards committees, from the NAACP Image Awards to the Critics' Choice Awards and the Chicago Film Critics Association. 

But the Academy Award nomination proved elusive. 

In Sinners, he’s great as Delta Slim. He’s wise and wily, a connection to Black music’s rich history and Black perseverance. He’s as flawed as your drunk uncle, and as savvy as a traveling salesman. It’s impossible to think of anyone else embodying the character with such heart and gravitas. 

Just weeks before Lindo’s Oscar nomination was announced, interviewer David Vision spoke to the actor on the red carpet of the Critics' Choice Awards, but mistakenly referred to Lindo as an “emerging artist,” something the man himself was quick to correct when asked what an Academy Award would mean for him. 

“Um, nothing. I’m not talking about that,” he began, before adding, “I’m also not an emerging artist. I’ve been around for a few years.”

“Absolutely. Sorry about that,” Visions says, as Lindo looks at the camera and laughs. 

Vision himself initially shared the clip, and it went viral after Lindo’s Oscar nod. Their interaction took place a few weeks before nominations were revealed, but it’s easy to feel Lindo bristle at being considered “emerging.” We can forgive the guy. But the Academy finally recognizing him after all these years says more about the oft-belated recognition of Black greatness than it says about the gifted and revered Mr. Lindo. 

He deserves every bit of this moment. But anyone should understand if Black folks celebrate that moment with a slight side-eye to those who made him wait so long for it.