As movie stars and filmmakers compete for Oscar gold, Rebellious Magazine challenges your Academy Award knowledge with this silver screen test.
1) Having received Best Supporting Actress nominations for their work in horror films, Amy (Weapons) Madigan and Wunmi (Sinners) Mosaku follow in the footsteps of Janet Leigh, Linda Blair, Piper Laurie, and Toni Collette—who were previously nominated in this category for the horror films Psycho (1960), The Exorcist (1973), Carrie (1976), and The Sixth Sense (1999), respectively. What Best Supporting Actress nominee not listed above actually took home the gold for her performance in an iconic horror flick?
2) By earning a Best Director nomination for Hamnet, what exclusive distinction does Chloé Zhao share with Jane Campion?
3) Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve secured a Best Actress nomination for the Scandinavian drama Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi). Who is the first actress to win an Oscar for starring in a foreign language film? Who is the second?
4) If Emma Stone picks up an Oscar for Bugonia, it will mark her third win since she was previously named Best Actress for La La Land (2017) and Poor Things (2024). A victory would tie her with Frances McDormand who has three Best Actress Oscars for Fargo (1996), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) and Nomadland (2020). Who is the only performer to receive four Academy Awards for Best Actress?
5) After the initial Oscars were held off camera in 1929, the ceremony was broadcast on radio in 1930 and first televised in 1953. When will the 98th Academy Awards take place and where can it be seen?
And the answers are…
1) The Academy named Ruth Gordon Best Supporting Actress for playing nosy neighbor Minnie Castevet in the psychological horror film Rosemary’s Baby (1968).
2) Chloé Zhao and Jane Campion are the only women in the Academy’s history to be nominated for Best Director twice. If Zhao wins, she would join Ang Lee as only the second Asian director to ever win twice in the Best Director category. The Academy recognized the Taiwanese director for his work on Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Life of Pi (2012).
To date, they are the only women to win Best Director (Zhao for 2020’s Nomadland and Campion for 2021’s The Power of the Dog) along with one-time nominee Kathryn Bigelow forThe Hurt Locker (2009). Campion also received a Best Director nomination forThe Piano (1994) which earned her an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Zhao picked up a second Oscar for producing Best Picture winner Nomadland. The same goes for Bigelow’s production efforts on her Best Picture victor. In total, Bigelow, Campion and Zhao have two Academy Awards each. But Campion and Zhao are the only women to have two Best Director nominations.
3) Sophia Loren is the first Best Actress winner for a performance in a foreign language film: Italy’sTwo Women (1960). It would take nearly 50 years for another woman in a foreign language movie to claim the Best Actress prize: Marion Cotillard for France’s La Vie en Rose (2007).
If Renate Reinsve’s name is called on Oscar night, she could become the first Norwegian actress to ever win in the Best Actress category (and the first Norwegian to win for any acting performance) unless her co-star, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, wins earlier in the evening in the Best Supporting Actress category.
4) Katharine Hepburn is the only person to win four Best Actress Oscars. She received the statuette for Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), and On Golden Pond (1981). These prizes are on display at the Smithsonian.
5) Conan O’Brien will host the 98th Academy Awards on Sunday, March 15, 2026 at 6 p.m. CDT on ABC at abc.com.
You can hear Janet discuss Oscar prospects with radio host Gary Zidek of The Arts Section on WDCB 90.9/90.7 FM on Sunday morning, March 15.