‘A result of hanging in there’: How Delroy Lindo, 73, received his first Oscar nomination

Seventy-three-year-old Delroy Lindo just received his first Oscar nomination of his career—and he has advice for anyone who’s been in their fields for decades like he has.

“The first thing that you have to come to terms with as an actor is being rejected,” the actor told The Wall Street Journal this week. That’s key for anyone trying to make it in Hollywood.

But Lindo, who plays blues musician Delta Slim in Best Picture nominee Sinners, has been working in the industry since moving to New York in his 20s, and finally got his first Academy Award nomination this year (for Best Supporting Actor). He told the Journal that he wouldn’t be where he is today without trust: both in his abilities, and in those who told him to keep going.

In Sinners, Lindo says he improvised a crucial part of the film that wasn’t in the script. It happens after his character tells the story of a lynching, and he begins stomping his foot and humming. Lindo’s co-stars went with it, and while at first the moment was cut from the film, he pushed for it to make the final cut. In the end, it did, giving greater authenticity to the moment, and ultimately, the role that earned him an Oscar nod. 

“There was space in our creative relationship for me to raise my hand,” Lindo told the Journal when describing his experience on the Sinners set with director Ryan Coogler and co-star Michael B. Jordan.

While he may have creative freedom now, the actor says it wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t pushed through the droughts and the inevitable self-doubt that follows failures.

He’s been acting since the 1980s. First on Broadway, then, in films. He starred in Malcolm X, Get Shorty, and The Cider House Rules. In 2020, there was talk of an Oscar nomination for his role in Spike Lee’s Da 5 Blood, but it never came to fruition. 

In Sinners, Lindo is unforgettable. From providing well-timed comic relief to impactful dialogue speaking to the injustice of the time, Slim is a central character for which the actor received critical acclaim.

Lindo said that he wouldn’t still be making films if he hadn’t believed in his craft, even when it was difficult to do so. He said when he played opposite Denzel Washington in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, he had to lean on belief in himself.

“I was joining the Spike Lee universe, so to speak,” he said of landing the role. Ultimately, he chose to improvise during a scene with Washington. “That was me trusting in the trust that Spike had placed in me,” Lindo said of what became a defining moment in his career. 

Heading into the Oscars ceremony on March 15, Lindo is a portrait of resilience, trust in his own abilities, and relying on instincts and relationships forged from decades of work.

“I’m at a point where I can look back on the fruits of my labor, but all of that has happened as a result of hanging in there.”