Actor Winston Duke is a contender for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture at the upcoming 51st NAACP Image Awards.
He announced his nomination for his work in the movie Us via Instagram on Thursday. He’ll be going up against former Black Panther costars Chadwick Boseman (21 Bridges), Daniel Kaluuya (Queen & Slim) and Michael B. Jordan (Just Mercy) and Eddie Murphy (Dolemite Is My Name).
The critically acclaimed film, directed by Jordan Peele, has a number of nominations including Oustanding Motion Picture; Oustanding Actress; Outstanding Breakthrough Performance; Oustanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture; Oustanding Writing in a Motion Picture; Oustanding Directing in a Motion Picture.
The Tobagonian-American star has become one of Hollywood’s most in-demand actors since his performance in Black Panther and Avengers: End Game, and his complex performance in Us proved that he can’t be easily typecast as the uber-alpha male.
Speaking about his role as Gabe in comparison to the strength of his wife Red, played by Lupita Nyong’o, he said, “For Lupita’s character to be as strong and impactful as we saw her, Gabe had to be the foil – to be the complete opposite to show her strength. It was a dichotomy.”
He has several upcoming projects in the pipeline including Spenser Confidential, a Netflix film based on Peter Berg’s novel Wonderland where he’ll appear opposite Mark Wahlberg. He will also star in Nine Days, opposite Zazie Beetz (Deadpool 2) and Bill Skarsgård (It), which is set to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival at the end of January.
He’s also set to play MMA legend Kimbo Slice in the biopic Backyard Legend, in the action-thriller film Heroine and the Apple TV Plus series Swagger.
At the end of 2019, he joined the ranks of other Hollywood greats and was listed as one of GQ Australia’s Actor of the Year alongside Jason Momoa and Zendaya who won Man and Woman of the Year, respectively.
“I really feel like creating a new space where masculinity isn’t that of a stoic, cowboy hero,” he said in his interview with GQ. “But one that has a lot of colour, dimension, heart, playfulness and can be so many different things.”
The 51st NAACP Image Awards will be hosted on February 22.
