Wagner Moura receives the torch to represent Brazil at the Oscars. The 49-year-old actor made history as the first Brazilian to be nominated for Best Actor for his stunning performance as a professor hiding in the midst of the political turmoil of Brazil’s military dictatorship in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent.

Moura is nominated alongside Timothée Chalamet (‘Marty Supreme’), Leonardo DiCaprio (‘One Battle After Another’), Ethan Hawke (‘Blue Moon’) and Michael B. Jordan (‘Sinners’). In addition to Moura, The Secret Agent was also nominated for Best International Feature and Best Picture.

In addition to his historic nomination for Brazil, Moura is also the sixth Latino to be nominated in the Best Actor category, following Jose Ferrer, Anthony Quinn, Edward James Olmos, Demián Bichir, and Colman Domingo. Ferrer was the only winner in the lineup for his performance in Cyrano de Bergerac (1950).

In The Secret Agent, Moura gives one of the most commanding performances of his career as Armando, a civil servant caught up in a web of intrigue and state surveillance.

The Secret Agent premiered at Cannes in May 2025 and won the most awards of the lineup, winning the Jury Prize for Best Director and Best Actor. Moura became the first South American actor to win the award. He is the first actor to be nominated for an Oscar at the Cannes Film Festival since Antonio Banderas for Pain and Glory (2019). In the past 25 years, only six Cannes Film Festival winners have been nominated for an Oscar, including two, Christoph Waltz for “Inglourious Basterds” (2009) and Jean Dujardin for “The Artist” (2011). The former won in the supporting actor category.

Moura’s performance on the critics’ awards circuit this season was strong, earning him a historic award from the New York Film Critics Circle, making him the first Latinx to win an award from the organization, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor, Drama, making him the first Brazilian to win the award. In addition to acting, the film also won awards for languages ​​other than English.

In the Academy’s 98-year history, only two other Brazilians have been nominated in the acting category. Fernanda Montenegro for “Central Station” (1992) and her daughter Fernanda Torres for “I’m Still Here” (2024) both won Best Actress. Moura’s nomination contributes to growing support for the film internationally and comes in the midst of a monumental year for Latin American filmmakers and performers.

Final Oscar voting will take place from February 26th to March 5th. The 98th Oscar Awards will be held on March 15th and will be hosted by Conan O’Brien and broadcast on ABC.