Sterling K. Brown Just Earned His First Oscar Nomination

Sterling K. Brown is now an Oscar-nominated actor. On Tuesday, the Academy Awards announced the nominations for its 96th annual ceremony, and Brown was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his work in the film American Fiction. He will be going up against Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon), Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer), Ryan Gosling (Barbie) and Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things). This is the first Oscar nomination for Brown after winning three Emmy Awards and one Golden Globe Award. 

In American Fiction, Brown plays Cliff Ellison, the brother of Monk Ellison who is played by Jeffrey Wright. Cliff returns to the family after a major tragedy happens and gives Monk about life. At the same time, Monk is dealing with the aftermath of writing a stereotypical “Black” book as satire, only to be a bestseller. American Fiction earned five Oscar nominations, including Wright for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score and Best Picture. 

In an interview with IndieWire earlier this month, Brown talked about his character in American Fiction.”Cliff is the youngest of three siblings,” Brown said. “He is gay, but he’s been trying to live a life in the closet for most of his adulthood until his wife finds him in bed with another man. He has blown the whole thing up, but it was bound to happen. And he wasn’t happy. It’s difficult to be happy if you’re not your authentic self. And so when we encounter Cliff, someone who has been trying to play the game by everybody else’s rules in terms of what is expected of him, we find him coloring outside the lines.”

Brown continued: “He’s a bit of what we call a hot mess. But purposefully. In his mind, it’s all or nothing, right? It’s either you try to stay in this closet, and be a good husband, and be a good father. And then after it all blows up, he’s like, ‘Well, I’m going to go about as opposite as I possibly can’. Eventually, there will be a new equilibrium that he finds where he’s able to be truthful.”

Brown is known for playing Randall Pearson in the NBC Series This is Us. He has also starred in the FX limited series The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story and the films Black Panther, The Predator and Honk for Jesus: Save Your Soul. The 96th Academy Awards will air on Mar. 10 on ABC.