The 2025 Academy Award nominations highlight the significant presence of Jewish talent in Hollywood, with several filmmakers, actors, and creatives making their mark across various categories.
One standout is Real Pain, which earned two nominations, including Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay.
Directed and written by Jesse Eisenberg, the film explores universal themes of trauma and memory, resonating with Jewish experiences of loss and resilience. Eisenberg's raw script has been praised for its emotional depth and its universal appeal.
Meanwhile, The Brutalist has garnered 10 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Adrien Brody, whose performance captures the complexities of identity and displacement.
The film’s exploration of Jewish immigration and assimilation in post-WWII America reflects key moments in Jewish history, further cementing the Jewish legacy in Hollywood.
Timothée Chalamet, nominated for Best Actor for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, brings a sensitivity to the role that resonates with his own Jewish upbringing.
Chalamet’s performance highlights Dylan’s early years and his struggle with identity, a theme central to both Jewish storytelling and the artist’s life.
Elsewhere, No Other Land is up for Best Documentary Feature, offering a bold exploration of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Jewish filmmakers Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, and Yuval Abraham have created a powerful piece that challenges conventional narratives and sparks critical dialogue about the region’s complexities.
Additionally, the docudrama September 5, which dramatises the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage crisis and the massacre of Israeli athletes by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September, was nominated for Best Original Screenplay.
Other Jewish nominees include Jeremy Strong, up for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Roy Cohn in The Apprentice, and Marc Platt, who produced Wicked, which is nominated for Best Picture.
Jewish composer Stephen Schwartz was nominated for his original score, and editor Myron Kerstein earned a nod for his work on the film.