Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, or "Oscars", is an annual American awards ceremony hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognise excellence in cinematic achievements in the film industry as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname "Oscar". The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

The awards ceremony was first broadcast to radio in 1930 and televised in 1953. It is now seen live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Oscars is the oldest entertainment awards ceremony; its equivalents, the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theatre, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording, are modeled after the Academy Awards.

88th Academy Awards

The 88th Academy Awards ceremony will be held at the Dolby Theatre on February 28, 2016 and hosted by Chris Rock. A total of 2,947 Oscars have been awarded since the inception of the award through the 87th. The 88th awards ceremony has become the target of a potential boycott, based on critics' perception that its all-white acting nominee list reflects bias. In response, the Academy has initiated "historic" changes in membership by the year 2020.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio (/dᵻˈkæpri.oʊ/; born November 11, 1974) is an American actor and film producer. He has been nominated for numerous awards, and has won three Golden Globe Awards. DiCaprio began his career by appearing in television commercials, after which he had recurring roles in TV series such as the soap opera Santa Barbara and the sitcom Growing Pains in the early 1990s. He began his film career by starring as Josh in Critters 3 before starring in the film adaptation of the memoir This Boy's Life (1993) alongside Robert De Niro. DiCaprio was praised for his supporting role in the drama What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), and gained public recognition with leading roles in the drama The Basketball Diaries (1995) and the romantic drama Romeo + Juliet (1996), before achieving international fame with James Cameron's epic romance Titanic (1997), which became the highest-grossing film to that point.

Since the 2000s, DiCaprio has received critical acclaim for his work in a wide range of film genres. His subsequent films include The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), the biographical crime drama Catch Me If You Can (2002) and the epic historical drama Gangs of New York (2002) which also marked his first of many collaborations with director Martin Scorsese. DiCaprio was also acclaimed for his performances in the political war thriller Blood Diamond (2006), the neo-noir crime drama The Departed (2006), the espionage thriller Body of Lies (2008), the drama Revolutionary Road (2008), the psychological thriller Shutter Island (2010), the science fiction thriller Inception (2010), the biographical film J. Edgar (2011), the western Django Unchained (2012), and the period drama The Great Gatsby (2013).

Halle Berry

Halle Maria Berry (born Maria Halle Berry; August 14, 1966) is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 2002 for her performance in the romantic drama Monster's Ball (2001), which made her the only woman of color to win a Best Actress Academy Award to date, as of 2016.

Berry was one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood during the 2000s and has been involved in the production of several of the films in which she performed. She is also a Revlon spokesmodel. Before becoming an actress, she started modeling and entered several beauty contests, finishing as the 1st runner-up in the Miss USA Pageant and coming in 6th place in the Miss World Pageant in 1986. Her breakthrough film role was in the romantic comedy Boomerang (1992), alongside Eddie Murphy, which led to roles in films such as the comedy The Flintstones (1994), the political comedy-drama Bulworth (1998) and the television film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999), for which she won the Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, among many other awards.

Sandra Bullock

Sandra Annette Bullock (/ˈsændrə ˈbʊlək/; born July 26, 1964) is an American actress and producer. She is one of Hollywood's highest-paid actresses, and is the recipient of one Academy Award from two nominations, and one Golden Globe Award from five nominations. She was named "Most Beautiful Woman" by People magazine in 2015.

Bullock made her acting debut with a minor role in the 1987 thriller Hangmen. She made her television debut in the television film Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1989) and played the lead role in the short-lived NBC sitcom Working Girl. Her breakthrough role was in the film Demolition Man (1993), after which she starred in several successful films including Speed (1994), While You Were Sleeping (1995), The Net (1995), A Time to Kill (1996), Hope Floats (1998), and Practical Magic (1998). Bullock achieved further success in the 2000s and 2010s with starring roles in Miss Congeniality (2000), Two Weeks Notice (2002), Crash (2004), The Proposal (2009) and The Heat (2013). She was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama for playing Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side (2009), and also nominated in the same categories for her performance in Gravity (2013). Bullock's greatest commercial success is the animated comedy film Minions (2015), which grossed over US$1 billion at the box office. In addition to acting, Bullock is the founder of the production company Fortis Films. She has produced some of the films in which she starred, including Two Weeks Notice, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous and All About Steve. She was an executive producer of the popular ABC sitcom George Lopez and made several appearances during its run.