The hit movie Sinners has officially become the most nominated film in Oscars history, with 16 nominations in total. While these nominations are certainly well deserved, there is one nomination in particular that stands out. At the age of 73, Sinners marks the very first nomination for Delroy Lindo, and if you are at all familiar with his work, you know that this nod is long overdue.
In Sinners, Delroy plays the wise old blues musician who is quick to put young upstarts in their place. His character is key to building the foundation of the world of Sinners, but this is far from the first time he’s played this part. If you’re new to Delroy Lindo, here are five of his films that should have earned him an Oscar if the academy had been paying attention.
Ransom
In the 1996 thriller Ransom, Delroy Lindo brings a calm and steady presence amid the chaos of the rest of the film. He plays a level-headed FBI agent trying to solve a high-stakes kidnapping and ransom demand. Lindo keeps his cool throughout this tense story, right up until the final moments.
Malcom X
One of Delroy Lindo’s earliest noted performances was in Spike Lee’s biopic of civil rights icon Malcom X. His character, a crime lord named West Indian Archie, was the real-life mentor of a young Malcom. His layered performance, noted for its unexpected warmth, led to many more collaborations with Spike Lee.
Crooklyn and Clockers
In 1994 and 1995, Delroy Lindo gave back-to-back performances that displayed his incredible range as an actor. In Crooklyn, he played the head of a working-class family struggling to get by in 1970s Brooklyn. Then, one year later, he appeared in Clockers as a brutal and intimidating drug lord.
The Cider House Rules
Probably his most well-known of Delroy Lindo’s films, other than Sinners, is The Cider House Rules. The film is a Southern Gothic epic that follows a young man’s turbulent path from orphan to sharecropper and beyond. The film earned seven Oscar nominations in total, and Delroy would surely have been one of them if not for Sir Michael Cain delivering one of the best performances of his career. Cain would go on to win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar that year.
Da 5 Bloods
Just five years before the debut of Sinners, Delroy Lindo gave possibly the most impactful performances of his career, with Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods. His portrayal of a Vietnam War veteran who is tortured by his past gave reason to think he might get an Oscar nod in the best actor category. Unfortunately, that nomination never came. According to Lindo, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, this was a “profound disappointment.”
This is far from a full list of Delroy Lindo’s incredible performances. From a semi-corrupt detective in Gone in 60 Seconds to the legendary Bass Reeves in the western The Harder They Fall, Lindo never disappoints. What is your favorite Delroy Lindo performance?