List of Greek Academy Award winners and nominees

Last updated July 19, 2025

This is a list of Greek Academy Award winners and nominees. It details the performances of Greek filmmakers, actors, actresses and films that have either been nominated for or have won an Academy Award.

Best Picture

Year	Name	Film	Status	Milestone / Notes
Academy Award for Best Picture
1963	Elia Kazan	America, America	Nominated
1964	Michael Cacoyannis	Zorba the Greek	Nominated	Cacoyannis is a Cypriot-born Greek.
1995	George Miller	Babe	Nominated	Miller is an Australian of Greek descent. Shared with Doug Mitchell and Bill Miller.
2011	Alexander Payne	The Descendants	Nominated	Payne is an American-born Greek. Shared with Jim Burke and Jim Taylor.
2013	Anthony Katagas	12 Years a Slave	Won	Katagas is an American of Greek descent. Shared with Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Steve McQueen.
2015	George Miller	Mad Max: Fury Road	Nominated	Shared with Doug Mitchell.
2018	Yorgos Lanthimos	The Favourite	Nominated	Shared with Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney and Lee Magiday.
2023	Yorgos Lanthimos	Poor Things	Nominated	Shared with Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe and Emma Stone.

Best Director

Year	Name	Film	Status
Academy Award for Best Director
1947	Elia Kazan	Gentleman's Agreement	Won
1951		A Streetcar Named Desire	Nominated
1954		On the Waterfront	Won
1955		East of Eden	Nominated
1963		America, America	Nominated
1964	Michael Cacoyannis	Zorba the Greek	Nominated
1969	Costa-Gavras	Z	Nominated
1974	John Cassavetes	A Woman Under the Influence	Nominated
2004	Alexander Payne	Sideways	Nominated
2011		The Descendants	Nominated
2013		Nebraska	Nominated
2015	George Miller	Mad Max: Fury Road	Nominated
2018	Yorgos Lanthimos	The Favourite	Nominated
2023	Yorgos Lanthimos	Poor Things	Nominated

Best Actress

Year	Name	Film	Status	Milestone / Notes
Academy Award for Best Actress
1960	Melina Mercouri	Never on Sunday	Nominated	Only person nominated for a Greek-language role.

Best Supporting Actor

Year	Name	Film	Status	Milestone
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1961	George Chakiris	West Side Story	Won	Chakiris is an American of Greek descent.
1962	Telly Savalas	Birdman of Alcatraz	Nominated	Savalas is an American of Greek descent.
1967	John Cassavetes	The Dirty Dozen	Nominated
1975	Chris Sarandon	Dog Day Afternoon	Nominated	Sarandon is an American of Greek descent.

Best Supporting Actress

Year	Name	Film	Status	Milestone / Notes
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1943	Katina Paxinou	For Whom the Bell Tolls	Won	First Greek person to win an Oscar.^[1]
1987	Olympia Dukakis	Moonstruck	Won	Dukakis is an American of Greek descent.

Best Original Screenplay

Year	Name	Film	Status	Milestone / Notes
Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay
1968	John Cassavetes	Faces	Nominated
1992	George Miller	Lorenzo's Oil	Nominated	Shared with Nick Enright.
2002	Nia Vardalos	My Big Fat Greek Wedding	Nominated	Vardalos is a Canadian of Greek descent.
2015	Yorgos Lanthimos Efthimis Filippou	The Lobster	Nominated

Best Adapted Screenplay

Year	Name	Film	Status	Milestone / Notes
Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
1963	Elia Kazan	America, America	Nominated
1964	Michael Cacoyannis	Zorba the Greek	Nominated
1969	Costa-Gavras	Z	Nominated	Shared with Jorge Semprún.
1982	Costa-Gavras	Missing	Won	Shared with Donald E. Stewart.
1990	Nicholas Kazan	Reversal of Fortune	Nominated
1995	George Miller	Babe	Nominated	Shared with Chris Noonan.
1999	Alexander Payne	Election	Nominated	Shared with Jim Taylor.
2004		Sideways	Won	Shared with Jim Taylor.
2011		The Descendants	Won	Shared with Nat Faxon and Jim Rash.

Best Production Design

Year	Name	Film	Status	Milestone / Notes
Academy Award for Best Production Design
1964	Vassilis Fotopoulos	Zorba the Greek	Won	Black & White category.
1974	Dean Tavoularis	The Godfather Part II	Won	American of Greek descent. Shared with Angelo P. Graham and George R. Nelson.
1978		The Brink's Job	Nominated
1979		Apocalypse Now	Nominated
1988		Tucker: The Man and His Dream	Nominated	Shared with Armin Ganz.
1990		The Godfather Part III	Nominated	Shared with Gary Fettis.

Best Cinematography

Year	Name	Film	Status
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
2013	Phedon Papamichael	Nebraska	Nominated
2020	Phedon Papamichael	The Trial of the Chicago 7	Nominated

Best Film Editing

Year	Name	Film	Status
Academy Award for Best Film Editing
2018	Yorgos Mavropsaridis	The Favourite	Nominated
2020	Yorgos Lamprinos	The Father	Nominated
2023	Yorgos Mavropsaridis	Poor Things	Nominated

Best Costume Design

Year	Name	Film	Status	Milestone / Notes
Academy Award for Best Costume Design
1960	Theoni V. Aldredge	Never on Sunday	Nominated	American-born Greek. Black & White Category
1962		Phaedra	Nominated
1974		The Great Gatsby	Won
2006	Patricia Field	The Devil Wears Prada	Nominated	American of Greek descent.
2010	Mary Zophres	True Grit	Nominated
2016		La La Land	Nominated
2018		The Ballad of Buster Scruggs	Nominated
2022		Babylon	Nominated

Best Original Song

Year	Name	Film	Song	Status
Academy Award for Best Original Song
1960	Manos Hatzidakis	Never on Sunday	For the song "Ta Paidia Tou Piraia" ("Never on Sunday").	Won
2017	Sufjan Stevens	Call Me by Your Name	For the song "Mystery of Love".	Nominated

Best Original Score

Year	Name	Film	Status	Milestone / Notes
Academy Award for Best Original Score
1981	Vangelis	Chariots of Fire	Won
2006	Alexandre Desplat	The Queen	Nominated
2007	Marco Beltrami	3:10 to Yuma	Nominated
2008	Alexandre Desplat	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	Nominated
2009	Marco Beltrami	The Hurt Locker	Nominated	Shared with Buck Sanders.
2009	Alexandre Desplat	Fantastic Mr. Fox	Nominated	French of Greek descent.^[2]^[3]
2010		The King's Speech	Nominated
2012		Argo	Nominated
2013		Philomena	Nominated
2014		The Grand Budapest Hotel	Won
2014		The Imitation Game	Nominated
2017		The Shape of Water	Won
2018		Isle of Dogs	Nominated
2019		Little Women	Nominated

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Year	Name	Film	Status	Milestone / Notes
2014	Elizabeth Gianni-Georgiou	Guardians of the Galaxy	Nominated	Shared with David White

Best Animated Feature

Year	Name	Film	Status	Milestone
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
2006	George Miller	Happy Feet	Won

Best Documentary Feature

Year	Name	Film	Status	Milestone
Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
2009	Louie Psihoyos	The Cove	Won	American of Greek descent. Shared with Fisher Stevens.
2017	Agnès Varda	Faces Places	Nominated	Shared with JR.
2017	Rosalie Varda	Faces Places	Nominated	Shared with JR.

Best Documentary Short Subject

Year	Name	Film	Status	Milestone / Notes
Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject
2016	Daphne Matziaraki	4.1 Miles	Nominated

Best Live Action Short Film

Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film
Year	Name	Film	Status	Milestone
2000	Christina Lazaridi	One Day Crossing	Nominated	Shared with Joan Stein Schimke.

Best Sound

Academy Award for Best Sound Editing
Year	Name	Film	Status	Milestone / Notes
2016	Mildred Iatrou	La La Land	Nominated	Shared with Ai-Ling Lee
2018	Mildred Iatrou	First Man	Nominated	Shared with Ai-Ling Lee

Best Visual Effects


Year	Name	Film	Status	Milestone
2021	Nikos Kalaitzidis	Free Guy	Nominated	Shared with Swen Gillberg, Bryan Grill, and Daniel Sudick.

Best Dance Direction

Academy Award for Best Dance Direction
Year	Name	Film	Status	Milestone
1935	Hermes Pan	Top Hat	Nominated	For "Piccolino" and "Top Hat".
1936		Swing Time	Nominated	For "Bojangles of Harlem".
1937		A Damsel in Distress	Won	For "Fun House".

Special Achievement


Year	Name	Status	Milestone / Notes
1961	Petro Vlahos	Recipient	Technical Achievement Award: "For a camera flicker indicating device."
1965		Recipient	Academy Award: "For the conception and perfection of techniques for Color Traveling Matte Composite Cinematography." Shared with Ub Iwerks
1993		Recipient	Medal of Commendation: "In appreciation for outstanding service and dedication in upholding the high standards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences."
1994		Recipient	Gordon E. Sawyer Award
1995		Recipient	Academy Award: "For the conception and development of the Ultimatte blue screen compositing process for motion pictures."
1998	Elia Kazan	Recipient	Honorary Award: "In appreciation of a long, distinguished and unparalleled career during which he has influenced the very nature of filmmaking through his creation of cinematic masterpieces."
2017	Agnès Varda	Recipient	Honorary Award: "Whose compassion and curiosity inform a uniquely personal cinema."

Best International Feature Film

Year	Film	Director(s)	Status
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
1962	Electra	Michael Cacoyannis	Nominated
1963	The Red Lanterns	Vasilis Georgiadis	Nominated
1966	Blood on the Land	Vasilis Georgiadis	Nominated
1977	Iphigenia	Michael Cacoyannis	Nominated
2009	Dogtooth	Yorgos Lanthimos	Nominated

Nominations and Winners

No. of wins	No. of nominations
15	81

References

↑ On the trail of Greek filmmakers who won an Oscar
↑ Burlingame, Jon (2007-01-07). "Alexandre Desplat Movie Scores - Film - Report". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-07-30.
↑ Burlingame, Jon (7 January 2007). "Thinking in Colors and Textures, Then Writing in Music". The New York Times . Retrieved 31 August 2011.

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[1] On the trail of Greek filmmakers who won an Oscar

[2] Burlingame, Jon (2007-01-07). "Alexandre Desplat Movie Scores - Film - Report". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-07-30.

[3] Burlingame, Jon (7 January 2007). "Thinking in Colors and Textures, Then Writing in Music". The New York Times . Retrieved 31 August 2011.

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v t e Academy Awards lists
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) Records Most awards per ceremony
Combined major Academy Awards	Superlatives Big Five All four acting categories
Acting	All nominees Best Actor Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Best Supporting Actress Non-English acting noms Actor multi-nom years Multi-win actors Multi-nom actors "Oscar love curse"
Directing	Best Director
Film	Winning films Multi-noms in same category Two acting awards for same film Foreign-language wins Foreign-language noms in other categories International Feature nominees International Feature: count by country Best Animated Feature submissions Best Documentary Feature submissions Best Animated Short submissions Best Documentary Short submissions Animated feature noms in other categories
Countries of the nominees	Africa Argentina Australia Austria Baltic Belarus Belgium Brazil Bulgaria Canada Chile Colombia Cuba Czech Republic Europe France Germany Greece Hungary India Iran Ireland Israel Italy Japan (South) Korea Latin America Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Nordic Pakistan Philippines Poland Puerto Rico Romania Russia Spain Switzerland United Kingdom
Nominees demographics	Asian Black Hispanic Indigenous Jewish Muslim Gen Y Gen Z
Other	Ceremonies Families False names Multi-win years Awards for Walt Disney Posthumous wins and noms Best Picture presenters Trophies on public display Oldest and youngest LGBTQ Women in non-gendered categories
Combined major awards	EGOT Triple Crown of Acting
Category