Lead actor race is practically a faculty

This year’s lead actor Oscar contenders have education in common. They all are either teachers or on the fringes of the education system. — Carla Meyer

2

Nominees Paul Giamatti and Jeffrey Wright play similarly erudite curmudgeons employed as educators in “The Holdovers� and “American Fiction,� respectively. But the education theme …

3

... runs throughout their category: J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) taught at UC Berkeley before fathering the atomic bomb; conductor/composer Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) lectured often; and civil rights activist Bayard Rustin (Colman Domingo) attended a teachers’ college. So there’s a …

40-100%

... chance (depending on how loosely one defines “teacher�) an actor who played an educator will be named lead actor for the second year in a row, after Brendan Fraser, whose character in “The Whale� taught college English.

5ish

The total number of lead actor Oscar recipients who played teachers gets squishy after obvious winners like Robert Donat (“Goodbye, Mr. Chips�) and Rex Harrison (“My Fair Lady�). Teaching often is one of the characters’ many jobs, or not emphasized in the film. Plus …

2

... of the most well-known performances — Edward James Olmos’ in “Stand and Deliver� and Robin Williams’ in “Dead Poets Society� — were nominated but did not win. And Sidney Poitier was not even nominated for “To Sir, With Love.�

1998

Robin Williams eventually won in supporting for playing an educator in “Good Will Hunting.� His therapist character also taught community college psychology.

2007

Before playing a character whose job is “beach,� current supporting actor nominee Ryan Gosling received a lead actor nomination for playing a devoted but self-destructive middle school teacher in “Half Nelson.�