First-time nominees of the 2018 Academy Awards

After starting out as a sketch comedian on “Mad TV” and “Key & Peele,” Jordan Peele broke into directing with the feature film “Get Out,” a psychological thriller that has earned him recognition at numerous film festivals and award shows, including four Oscar nods for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay for Peele. 

Veteran indie/mumblecore actress Greta Gerwig is also a talented screenwriter and director, as evidenced by “Lady Bird,” her solo directorial debut, and the film that earned Gerwig her first Academy Award nomination. The film already won Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes and is a heavy favorite at the Oscars, as it actually has five nominations, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director.

If “Mudbound” wins Best Adapted Screenplay, Dee Rees will share the honor with writer Virgil Williams (more on him later). But that’s not all Rees is up for, as she is also the film’s Oscar-nominated director. In other achievements, because Mary J. Blige is up for Best Supporting Actress for “Mudbound,” Rees is now the first black woman to direct a film for which an actor or actress was also nominated for an Academy Award. Rees is also known for 2011’s “Pariah” and 2015’s “Bessie.”

Best known for “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013) and “Suicide Squad” (2016), Margot Robbie finally received some well-deserved critical acclaim for her titular role in “I, Tonya,” the much-hyped Tonya Harding biopic. If Robbie wins Best Actress at the Academy Awards, she’ll be the first person to ever earn an Oscar for portraying a real-life Olympic athlete.

Not only does Timothée Chalamet appear in the Oscar-nominated film “Lady Bird,” but he also had the lead role in “Call Me By Your Name,” which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Chalamet is still only 22 years old, which makes him the third-youngest person ever nominated in the category, and the youngest since 1939.

Actor Daniel Kaluuya is only 28 years old, but he has already earned an Oscar nod, thanks to his leading role in Jordan Peele’s “Get Out.” He couldn’t capitalize on nominations at the Golden Globes and SAG Awards, but managed a Next Generation MTV Movie Award in addition to numerous accolades from film critics associations.

Although primarily known as a singer, songwriter and music producer, Mary J. Blige actually received her first acting credit back in 1998 for a small role on “The Jamie Foxx Show.” She has since picked up parts here and there, but officially established herself as a serious actress with her highly praised performance in “Mudbound.” Not only did this role earn Blige an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, but she also received a nod for Best Original Song in the same film, making her the first person ever nominated for an Academy Award for acting and writing an original song in the same year.

We absolutely adore Allison Janney, whether she’s in a feature film like “Juno” or a TV rerun of “The West Wing” (which got her four of her seven Emmy wins), so it’s about time someone handed the incredibly talented veteran actress an Academy Award nomination. In addition to the Oscars recognizing Janney for her supporting role in “I, Tonya,” she also earned nods at the Golden Globe, BAFTA, Satellite, and SAG Awards.

Laurie Metcalf won three Emmys for her role on “Roseanne” (with 10 total nominations for this and various other shows) and a Tony Award for “A Doll’s House, Part 2,” meaning she is already halfway to an EGOT. Metcalf can take another step toward that achievement with a win at the 2018 Oscars, as she is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for playing Marion McPherson, the protagonist’s mother in Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird.”

Lesley Manville has been acting in film, on TV, and on stage for more than 45 years, but her role in “Phantom Thread” was the first to earn her an Oscar nod. She came close after making the well-received film “Another Year” in 2010, garnering a BAFTA nomination and numerous other nods from various critics groups, but the famous gold statuette has eluded her up until now.

After almost single-handedly carrying the critically acclaimed sci-fi drama “Moon” (2009), Sam Rockwell was snubbed when the academy failed to grant him an Oscar nomination. In 2013, it happened again, this time with “The Way, Way Back.” Thus, Rockwell’s Best Supporting Actor nod for his role as a violent cop in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” is long overdue. And given his success at this year’s Golden Globes, there’s a solid chance he’ll go home with an Oscar statuette.

To say that Emily V. Gordon went from obscurity to the Oscars in a single year is actually quite accurate. Although Gordon has been writing for years on a few shows, she was actually a professional therapist as recently as 2009, and writing the original screenplay for “The Big Sick” with husband/collaborator Kumail Nanjiani was her very first foray into film.

Kumail has a bit more showbiz experience than his wife, having appeared on some three-dozen TV shows. He’s mostly known for playing Dinesh on “Silicon Valley” and voicing Prismo on “Adventure Time,” but he also had regular roles on “Franklin & Bash,” “Portlandia,” “Burning Love,” and “The Meltdown.” He has a bunch of film credits, too, but when it comes to writing for both mediums, the sample size is small. Nevertheless, Nanjiani is up for Best Original Screenplay for “The Big Sick,” which, as previously mentioned, is a nomination he shares with his wife, Emily V. Gordon.

When most people think of “The Shape of Water,” writer and director Guillermo del Toro immediately comes to mind. But the screenplay was actually written by both del Toro and Vanessa Taylor, a writer who has penned scripts for shows like “Game of Thrones” and films like 2012’s “Hope Springs.” Next up for Taylor (aside from a possible Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay) is the live-action remake of “Aladdin,” which she is writing alongside John August and director Guy Ritchie. 

It seems like almost every exciting film of 2017 was either written or co-written by Michael Green. This list includes “Alien” Covenant,” “Blade Runner 2049,” “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Logan,” the last of which earned him a nod for Best Original Screenplay. He, along with Bryan Fuller, are also responsible for developing the current Starz series “American Gods.” Not bad for an industry veteran who started his career by penning an episode of “Sex and the City” back in 1998.

As the director of such Oscar-nominated films as “Girl, Interrupted” (1999), “Kate & Leopold” (2001), “Walk the Line” (2005), and “3:10 to Yuma” (2007), you’d think director James Mangold would have received a piece of the action. However, 2018 is the first year he ever received an Academy Award nominations... and oddly enough, it’s not for a film he directed. Along with Scott Frank and the aforementioned Michael Green, Mangold adapted the screenplay for “Logan.”

Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber are the writing team that adapted “The Disaster Artist” from a book of the same name by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell. The pair are now veterans in adaptation, as they did the same with 2013’s “The Spectacular Now,” 2014’s “The Fault in Our Stars,” and 2015’s “Paper Towns.” Neustadter and Weber also wrote the original screenplay for the 2009 romantic comedy-drama “500 Days of Summer.”

Virgil Williams has managed to fly under the radar for most of his 15-year career, quietly penning episodes of hit shows like “24,” “ER,” and “Criminal Minds.” However, he was thrust into the spotlight over the last year by being half of the writing team behind “Mudbound,” the 2017 period drama that’s up for four Academy Awards, including a Best Adapted Screenplay nod. For the record, “Mudbound” is based on a novel of the same name by Hillary Jordan, and it’s Williams’ first film credit.