“I think I’ve done enough. I’ve done a wide range of work as an actor,” the legend told EW in an extensive interview.

Delroy Lindo scores first Oscar nomination at 73 for Sinners after opening up about being ‘profoundly disappointed’ by past snubs

"I think I've done enough. I've done a wide range of work as an actor," the legend told EW in an extensive interview.

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on *Entertainment Tonight* and Popsugar.

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January 22, 2026 11:48 a.m. ET

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Delroy Lindo at the 'Sinners' European premiere on April 14, 2025. Credit:

Gareth Cattermole/Getty

Delroy Lindo has long been regarded as a Hollywood icon whose work is always critically lauded but never awarded — until now.

The London-born actor, 73, with a decades-spanning career has found his name being mentioned in conversation during awards season before, but shut out when nominations were announced. But with Thursday's 98th Academy Awards nominations announcement, Lindo finally earned his first-ever bid, in Best Supporting Actor, for his performance as Delta Slim in Ryan Coogler's genre-fluid vampire thriller *Sinners*. It's a nod that many would say is long overdue considering the previous snubs in his career.

As Lindo told ** during an extensive interview in April, while his name has been thrown into the Oscar conversation before for his turns in Spike Lee's 1992 drama *Malcolm X *and again for the director's 2020 film *Da 5 Bloods*, he tried "not to buy into that."

Delroy Lindo in 'Sinners'.

"That may seem very pious," Lindo noted. "I try not to buy into that because, frankly, if *Da 5 Bloods* experience taught me anything, it's that no Academy Award nomination, no BAFTA nomination, no SAG nomination…There was another one. There were four of 'em that completely iced both the film and me…"

Lindo refrained from sharing his "thoughts" on why Lee's project only netted a Best Original Score Oscar nomination despite being lauded by critics. "My point is, if so much of the press were saying, 'This guy's going to get nominated,' and it didn't happen, there's probably a reason for that," he added.

That doesn't mean it wasn't a blow to the actor.  "I was profoundly disappointed, frankly," Lindo told EW.

'Sinners' ending explained: Who survives the night (and who returns in that post-credits scene)

'Sinners' scene breakdown: Behind the scenes of the hallucinatory juke joint performance

He shared that he and Lee spoke over the phone the morning of the Oscar nominations on March 15, 2021. "He had just gotten off a plane, and he called me. Said, 'Man, I just heard.' We were commiserating," he recalled. "Where we ended up was agreeing, no matter what, one must keep working. What am I going to do? Take my marbles and go home and get in the fetal position? No, I'm not going to do that." ****He added: "I think I've done enough. I've done a wide range of work as an actor."**

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And he didn't. Five years later, Lindo cast a spell over viewers and Oscar voters as Delta Slim, a Mississippi harmonica and piano player tapped by twins Smoke and Stack (played by fellow first-time Oscar nominee Michael B. Jordan pulling double duty) to perform at the launch of their juke joint, which becomes the target of a group of vampires.

"To work with him and see what he brought every day, it's an incredible performance," Coogler remarked separately to EW.

Delroy Lindo in 'Sinners'.

That's a sentiment largely shared with critics and audiences alike, maintaining a 97 percent critical rating and 96 percent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Released in April, *Sinners* scored big box-office returns, especially for a non-sequel, non-adapted original story. The film earned approximately $368 million globally, becoming one of the top-grossing movies of the year.

The film has received numerous awards and nominations since awards season began, including seven nominations at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards, 17 nominations at the 31st Critics Choice Awards, and a record 21 nominations at the 26th Annual Black Reel Awards. It was also selected as one of the top 10 films of the year by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute.

*Sinners* received 16 Oscar nominations on Thursday, shattering the record to become the most-nominated movie in history. The film surpassed prior record holders *La La Land* (2016), *Titanic* (1997), and the Hollywood classic *All About Eve *(1950), all of which earned 14 nods each.**

The 'Sinners' cast and crew at the European premiere.

Gareth Cattermole/Getty

Lindo hasn't spoken on his nomination as the time of publication, but it's reasonable to believe that the actor still feels as "f---ing fortunate" as he did when EW spoke to him last year.

"I'll tell you something," he said at the time. "To have been working as an actor for the length of time that I have been working — and certainly to have been through ups and downs in my career — the fact that one is *still* working, the fact that audiences still apparently find what I'm doing interesting, worthy of watching, that's not a given. So that's what it comes out of, that I don't take any of it for granted."

The 2026 Oscars, hosted by returning comedian Conan O'Brien, air Sunday, March 15 at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ABC.

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Source: “EW Academy”