Charles Melton’s Best Supporting Actor Win For May December Would Make Oscars History

May December star Charles Melton would make Oscars history if he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the Todd Haynes melodrama. In the film, Melton plays Joe, the much younger husband of Gracie (Julianne Moore), who illegally began their relationship when he was only 13 years old, and she was an adult. May December is loosely based on the true story of Mary Kay Letourneau, a schoolteacher who made headlines for preying on her 12-year-old student. Letourneau went to prison for statutory rape in 1997 before similarly marrying and having children with her victim upon her release.

Melton’s performance as a 36-year-old man stuck in arrested development because of the abuse he’s endured has been praised by critics and audiences alike. A pleasantly surprising candidate for Academy Award recognition, Melton’s performance made him a predicted Oscars 2024 Best Supporting Actor nominee. As a potential first-time nominee, Melton’s Oscar win would be exciting all around, but it would also represent a first in Oscars history because of who won the year before.

Melton’s Win Would Mark First Time Best Supporting Actor Went To An Actor Of Asian Descent 2 Years In A Row

Melton would be following Ke Huy Quan

As a Korean-American actor, Charles Melton receiving the Academy Award for his May December performance would mark the first time in Oscars history that the Best Supporting Actor winner was an actor of Asian descent two years in a row. Last year, the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor went to Ke Huy Quan for his performance as Waymond Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once. The Chinese-Vietnamese actor was a first-time nominee at the Oscars, just like Melton would be.

Melton taking home the trophy would be a huge deal for actors of Asian descent everywhere. This milestone would also be a big step in the right direction for the Academy, but at the same time, the fact that this scenario has never occurred before is indicative of how underrepresented actors of Asian descent are at the Oscars. Melton’s nomination alone would be unprecedented. The very fact that two actors of Asian descent have never won or even been nominated back-to-back in this category is absurd, and further proof that the Academy needs to be more inclusive.

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Only 2 Actors Of Asian Descent Have Ever Won The Oscar For Best Supporting Actor

Out of only 10 actors and 12 nominations

Not only have there never been two back-to-back winners, but there have only been two winners of Asian descent in this category in total. Before Ke Huy Quan in 2023, the only other actor of Asian descent to win Best Supporting Actor was Cambodian actor Haing S. Ngor in 1985. He won for his acting debut performance in The Killing Fields, making his win extra special. The 1985 Oscars was also the only year that two actors of Asian descent were nominated for Best Supporting Actor in the same year. Japanese-American actor Noriyuki “Pat” Morita was also nominated for playing Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid.

Other than Quan, Ngor, and Morita, only seven other actors of Asian descent have ever been nominated for Best Supporting Actor, two of whom were nominated twice. Akim Tamiroff, an actor of Armenian descent, was nominated for The General Died at Dawn in 1937 and For Whom the Bell Tolls in 1944. After him, Japanese-American actor Sessue Hayakawa was nominated for The Bridge on the River Kwai in 1958, followed by Omar Sharif, an actor of Egyptian and Lebanese descent, for Lawrence of Arabia in 1963. Four years later, Japanese-American actor Mako Iwamatsu was nominated for The Sand Pebbles.

Anglo-Indian actor Ben Kingsley is the other actor of Asian descent to be nominated twice for Best Supporting Actor. Nine years after his win for Best Actor for playing the titular role in Gandhi, he was nominated for his supporting turns in Bugsy in 1992 and Sexy Beast in 2002. Two years after Kingsley’s second nomination, Japanese actor Ken Watanabe was nominated for The Last Samurai. The most recent nominee of Asian descent before Quan’s win was Dev Patel, an actor of Gujarati-Indian descent, for Lion in 2017.

What Are Charles Melton’s Oscars Chances?

Melton is very likely to get a nomination

As for his chances of securing that Oscar and making history, Charles Melton is a very strong contender for at least a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Melton recently won the Gotham Independent Film Award for Outstanding Supporting Performance and was named Best Supporting Actor at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards. He was also nominated for Best Supporting Performance at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, among other accolades.

However, the competition will be fierce in the Best Supporting Actor category at the 2024 Oscars. Melton’s fellow nominees are widely predicted to be Robert Downey Jr. for Oppenheimer, Robert DeNiro for Killers of the Flower Moon, Ryan Gosling for Barbie, and Mark Ruffalo for Poor Things. As an Oscars newcomer and first-time nominee, it’ll be tough for Melton to beat out such heavy-hitters. Still, his performance in May December has been lauded as an unexpected gem, and the Academy loves an underdog. Therefore, Melton could end up winning over his opponents at the Oscars, making history while he’s at it.