Delroy Lindo overcame ‘strategic missteps’ on way to first Oscar nod

Delroy Lindo, finally an Academy Award-nominated actor, only had to wait five decades to earn the honor — overcoming “strategic missteps” that once threatened to derail his career along the way, he’s said.

Lindo, 73, is a longtime character actor whose appearances on film, television and stage have earned him critical acclaim, even as his industry’s highest honors eluded him. On Thursday, Lindo earned his first Oscar nomination, in the Best Supporting Actor category, for his work in the 2025 blockbuster “Sinners.” 

The nomination comes five years after some of the actor’s supporters complained that he’d been “snubbed” by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his work in the Spike Lee film “Da 5 Bloods.”

Lindo was “profoundly disappointed” by getting shut out of the 2021 Oscar nominations for that role, he told Entertainment Weekly on Thursday. Lee, an Oscar-winner himself, also expressed disappointment over Lindo’s lack of awards recognition, commenting in March 2021 on Instagram that it “does not take away from the impact of his work that spans decades.”

Before his Oscars nomination, the actor had a long, well-respected career that included acclaimed performances in notable films such as “The Cider House Rules” and the Lee-directed “Malcolm X” and “Crooklyn.” Still, Lindo has lamented his career floundering for multiple years in the mid-1990s as he developed a reputation as being a “difficult” actor to work with, he’s said.

“I made some strategic missteps. One of the biggest missteps was probably thinking that I was important,” Lindo told The Hollywood Reporter in March 2021, discussing why high-profile roles “dried up” for him nearly three decades ago. He’d bring passion and intensity to his work, occasionally leading him to butt heads with directors when their creative visions didn’t fully align, he said.

At one point, Lindo walked away from a Lee-produced film over concerns about the script, leading to a nearly 25-year pause between collaborations for the actor and director, Lindo told GQ in April 2021. He might’ve walked away from acting altogether if fellow actor Denzel Washington hadn’t talked him out of the idea, telling Lindo he was “too good” an actor to quit, Lindo said at a “Sinners” screening in December 2025, according to Deadline.

“That period had to do with these various missteps that I made, which resulted in perhaps being seen as less viable as a film actor, less desirable,” Lindo told GQ. “Was that frustrating and painful? Absolutely. I was playing catch-up.”

Ultimately, Lindo came to the realization that he needed to adjust his approach to collaboration, rather than hoping his acting talent would be enough to keep landing him high-profile work, he told THR.

“I thought it was a meritocracy, that good work would beget more good work. No, not quite,” said Lindo. “I also was not as strategic or as diplomatic as I could have been in certain situations. I needed to communicate in a way that could not be perceived as…