Cuarón Wins Best Director as Mexicans Sweep the 2014 Academy Awards

The 86th Academy Awards ceremony, commonly known as the Oscars, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the actors, technical achievements, and films of 2013 and took place on Sunday, March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres.

Alfonso Cuarón made history by becoming the first Latino to win an Oscar for direction, for his film Gravity. It was his second Oscar win; he won his first Oscar of the evening (and his first Oscar in his career) for editing (with Mark Sanger) the same film. [The Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA) recognized his talent ten years ago at the 2004 HOLA Awards.] Cuarón was also nominated for Best Picture, but lost that award to Steve McQueen's 12 Years A Slave (starring nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor and Mexican-born Kenyan Best Supporting Actress winner Lupita Nyong'o). Gravity won seven awards out of ten nominations, including one for Mexican-born Emmanuel Lubezki, who won for cinematography. In all, it was a pretty good night for people born in Mexico.

In addition, Areito Echevarria received (along with the team of Colin Doncaster, Johannes Saam, Janne Kohtkanen) and Chris Cooper will receive a Special Academy Certificate of Technical Achievement, which was presented as part of the Academy Awards Annual Scientific and Technical Awards presentation, hosted by Kristen Bell and Michael B. Jordan, which took place on Saturday, February 15, 2014, also in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. To see their acceptance speech, click here (Echevarria speaks at about 02:28 of the video).

Also interesting to note was the win by Robert López (with his wife Kristen Anderson-López) for Best Original Song for their composition "Let It Go" from the film Frozen. The Academy Award win makes songwriter López, of Filipino heritage, the twelfth and youngest recipient of the EGOT– that is winning the Emmy, the Grammy, the Oscar and the Tony awards. He also accomplished this feat in the shortest amount of time (ten years between first and fourth awards). He joins the esteemed company of Richard Rodgers, Helen Hayes, Rita Moreno, John Gielgud, Audrey Hepburn, Marvin Hamlisch, Jonathan Tunick, Mel Brooks, Mike Nichols, Whoopi Goldberg and Scott Rudin. For more information, click here. 

Over the 86-year history of the Academy Awards, Oscar nominations have been given to Latino/Hispanics from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay and the United States... and not just in acting.

• For a list of Argentine Academy Award winners and nominees, click here.

• For a list of Brazilian Academy Award winners and nominees, click here.

• For a list of Chilean Academy Award winners and nominees, click here.

• For a list of Colombian Academy Award winners and nominees, click here.

• For a list of Mexican Academy Award winners and nominees, click here.
(This list includes Lupita Nyong'o, who was born in Mexico City, Mexico.)

• For a list of Puerto Rican Academy Award winners and nominees, click here. (This list includes Joaquin Phoenix, who was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico.)

• For a list of Spanish Academy Award winners and nominees, click here.

• For a list of Uruguayan Academy Award winners and nominees, click here.

• For a list of Latino/Hispanic Academy Award winners and nominees from the United States, click here. (This list includes an Mexican-American, an American of Mexican-Czech heritage, an American of Mexican-Basque heritage, a Cuban-American and a Puerto Rican born in Brooklyn.)

The list of Academy Award winners (as of press time) from Latin America and Spain is below. Multiple Oscar winners from Latin America and Spain include Gustavo Santaolalla (who won two years in a row), Anthony Quinn, Alfonso Cuarón (who won two awards in one night), Emile Kuri (who won two out of eight nominations in an almost thirty year span), Robert Amram (who won two awards in one night), Gil Parrondo, and Pedro Almodóvar.

ARGENTINA
Eugenio Zanetti (art direction); Gustavo Santaolalla [twice] and Luis Enríquez Bacalov (original score); Luis Puenzo and Juan José Campanella (foreign film).

MEXICO
Anthony Quinn (acting) [twice], Lupita Nyong'o (acting) ; Alfonso Cuarón (twice, for direction and editing), Emile Kuri [twice], Brigitte Broch, Eugenio Caballero and Pilar Revuelta (art direction); Robert Amram (short subject and documentary short subject; the first and only time a film was given Oscars in both categories in the same year); Guillermo Navarro and Emmanuel Lubezki (cinematography); Beatrice de Alba (makeup).

PUERTO RICO
José Ferrer, Rita Moreno and Benicio Del Toro (acting).

SPAIN
Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz (acting); Gil Parrondo [twice] and Antonio Mateos (art direction); Néstor Almendros (cinematography); Yvonne Blake and Antonio Castillo (costume design); José Luis Garci, Fernando Trueba, Pedro Almodóvar, Alejandro Almenábar (foreign film); Pedro Almodóvar (screenplay); David Martí and Montse Ribé (makeup).

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
1982 - Volver a empezar (Spain)
1985 - La historia official (Argentina)
1993 - Belle Époque (Spain)
1999 - Todo sobre mi madre (Spain)
2004 - Mar adentro (Spain)
2009 - El secreto de los ojos (Argentina)

• For a list of Academy Award winners and nominees in the category of Best Foreign Language Film, click here.

In the case of the Best Foreign Language Film category, the director accepts the award, but the award goes to the producing nation(s).