Oscar 2023 for Best Supporting Actor – Analysis and predictions

Let’s talk about the category of Best Supporting Actor at the 2023 Oscars where a contender already seems to have victory in the bag.

Nominees for Best Supporting Actor:

• Barry Keoghan – The Banshees of Inisherin (BAFTA)
• Brendan Gleeson – The Banshees of Inisherin
• Brian Tyree Henry – Causeway
• Judd Hirsch – The Fabelmans
• Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All At Once (SAG, GG, CC)

Having won the Golden Globe, the Critics’ Choice and the SAG, as well as dominating the regional critics’ awards circuit (he won more than 40 awards), Ke Huy Quan is the clear contender for the 2023 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. for his work on “Everything Everywhere All At Once.”

Like Waymond, Ke Huy Quan gave us an endearing performance where we found not only heart, empathy and romance, but also plenty of action. The industry tends to patronize this kind of cinema, but implementing martial arts into a performance is incredibly difficult, and like Michelle Yeoh, what Quan does in “Everything” is something no one else this season could replicate.

Quality aside, Quan’s comeback narrative is compelling and goes hand-in-hand with the sheer significance of “Everything Everywhere.” Quan began his career at age 12 as Short Round in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and Data in “The Goonies,” but his good parts eventually stopped coming. For years, the Vietnamese-American actor had trouble finding work in the United States, reflecting the industry’s racism, so he transitioned to behind-the-scenes roles, as fight choreographer for movies like “X-Men” and “The One,” and assistant director on Wong Kar-wai’s “2046”.

It wasn’t until 2018, thanks to the premiere of “Crazy Rich Asians” and the realization that Hollywood was changing, that Ke Huy Quan got the inspiration he needed to return to the world of acting. That same year the Daniels contacted him to audition for the role of Waymond Wang, and the rest is history. Of course, things weren’t that easy, as between the filming of “Everything” and its theatrical release, Ke Huy Quan was never able to find a job and even lost his health insurance from SAG. Yes, Hollywood has changed, but this little tidbit highlights how far the industry has to go to create a truly authentic and inclusive environment. This history and Quan’s frustrated feelings have been manifested, in various ways, in moving acceptance speeches throughout the season, speeches that will no doubt have convinced more than one Academy member to vote for this great actor.

Could anyone surprise Ke Huy Quan at the 2023 Oscars for Best Supporting Actor? Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) won the BAFTA and clearly has the support of a large number of British (and perhaps European in general) voters. In films like “The Killing of a Sacred Deer”, “American Animals” and “Calm With Horses”, the Irish actor had already shown his enormous talent, but with “Banshees” he ended up exploding to obtain well-deserved recognition.

Brendan Gleeson also did a superb job in “The Banshees of Inisherin”, but let’s remember that the industry rarely rewards deep and subtle performances like Brendan’s (why do you think Saoirse Ronan hasn’t won an Oscar yet?), so his victory seems impossible.

How nice it is to have Brian Tyree Henry among the list of nominees. The man has been giving us high-caliber work for years (he should have been nominated for “If Beale Street Could Talk”) and his mention for “Causeway” is fully deserved: his performance adds many nuances to a story of friendship and trauma .

Although I would have liked to see Paul Dano (another expert actor in subtle and unforgettable work that has also not been recognized by the Academy), Judd Hirsch is tremendous in “The Fabelmans.” His bombastic performance is like a whirlwind that comes to radically change the narrative of the film; Despite appearing for less than 10 minutes, Hirsch’s presence is felt until the last frame of the film. With this 2023 Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Hirsch became the second-oldest actor (87 years, 315 days) to be nominated for an Oscar (second only to Christopher Plummer in 2017). He will hardly win the gold statuette, but it’s great to have him here, once again being recognized for his talent.

Oscar 2023 Predictions for Best Supporting Actor

final prediction

European voters will likely go with Barry Keoghan, but the passion for “Everything Everywhere All At Once” in North America and Ke Huy Quan’s comeback narrative are two elements that are very hard to beat.

should win: Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All At Once

Is going to win: Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All At Once

Eye with: Barry Keoghan – The Banshees of Inisherin

Should have been nominated: Tzu-Chiang Wang – “The Sadness”