The Oscars 2023: Who will present the Best Actress award in Will Smith’s place?

Since Will Smith will be absent from this year’s awards, who will present the Best Actress award at the Oscars?

It’s not long before the most important movie night. Jimmy Kimmel will return to host the awards ceremony on Sunday (March 12) in Los Angeles. You can find a full list of the night’s nominees here.

Within the Academy Awards, it was customary for the previous year’s Best Actor winner to present the Best Actress award, and vice versa. For example, 2021 winner Anthony Hopkins presented Jessica Chastain with her 2022 Best Actress award.

This year, Chastain, who won for her role in The Eyes of Tammy Faye in 2022, he will likely present the Best Actor award, whose nominees are Brendan Fraser, Austin Butler, Colin Farrell, Bill Nighy, and Paul Mescal (unless the Academy decides to change protocol due to Smith’s absence).

When it comes to who will present the Best Actress award, which is up for Michelle Yeoh, Cate Blanchett, Andrea Riseborough, Ana de Armas and Michelle Williams, the answer is less clear.

There’s an obvious setback: last year’s Best Actor winner Smith will be absent from the 2023 proceedings.

After Smith slapped Chris Rock at last year’s awards, the King Richard She was banned from Oscar events for a decade, including the awards gala.

While a star-studded list of Oscar presenters was recently released, the Academy has yet to announce the name of Smith’s replacement.

However, this is not a completely new situation. In 2018, Casey Affleck (Best Actor 2017 winner for manchester by the sea) was to present the award for Best Actress.

In January of that year, Affleck announced that he would be stepping down from his hosting duties after details of sexual harassment allegations against the actor surfaced.

In 2010, he had settled out of court with the producer and director of photography for his film. I’m still here.

The allegations had particular resonance given that the awards ceremony took place at the height of the #MeToo movement.

Instead of Affleck, previous Best Actress winners Jennifer Lawrence and Jodie Foster presented the award to Frances McDormand.

That same year, Jane Fonda and Helen Mirren handed the Oscar for Best Actor hand in hand, although it fell to Emma Stone to present the award (since she had won the Best Actress award in 2017). Instead, it was Stone’s turn to present the Best Director award.

It’s not the first time he’s strayed from tradition at the Oscars. For two consecutive years, in 2009 and 2010, the Best Actor and Best Actress categories were presented by groups of past winners.

For example, in 2010, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry, Shirley Maclaine and Sophia Loren took to the stage to award Kate Winslet the Best Actress statuette for The reader.

Sean Penn, in turn, received his award from Robert DeNiro, Adrien Brody, Michael Douglas and Ben Kingsley.

The Academy chose to follow suit a year later. In 2010, Sandra Bullock received her Best Actress award for the blind side by Michael Sheen, Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Stanley Tucci and Peter Saarsgard.

Viewers praised the creative decision and begged the organizers to bring back the group’s presenters. With Smith’s absence putting a damper on plans, 2023 could very well be their year.

Find out How to watch the Oscars from home and when does the ceremony start here?.

translation of Anna McDonnell