in 1953 for Bear Country Academy Award firsts First Best Picture winning film Wings (1927) First Best Picture winning sound film The Broadway Melody (1929) First person born in the 20th century to win and be nominated for an Academy Award Janet Gaynor, for Best Actress, 7th Heaven, Street Angel, Sunrise (1928) First person born in the 21st century to win an Academy Award Billie Eilish, for Best Original Song, "No Time to Die" from No Time to Die (2021) First person born in the 21st century to be nominated for an Academy Award Quvenzhané Wallis, for Best Actress, Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) First Asian person to win Best Picture Bong Joon-ho and Kwak Sin-ae (both from South Korea) for Parasite (2019) First Asian person to be nominated for Best Picture Ismail Merchant (from India) for A Room with a View (1986) First Asian director (and non-Caucasian director) to win Best Director Ang Lee (from Taiwan) for Brokeback Mountain (2005) First Asian person (and non-Caucasian) to be nominated for Best Director Hiroshi Teshigahara (from Japan) for Woman in the Dunes (1965) First Asian person (and non-Caucasian person) to receive each of the Honorary Awards Akira Kurosawa (from Japan) received an Honorary Award in 1989 First Black person (and non-Caucasian person) to win Best Picture Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave (2013) First Black person (and non-Caucasian person) to be nominated for Best Picture Quincy Jones for The Color Purple (1985) First Black director to be nominated for Best Director John Singleton for Boyz n the Hood (1991) First woman to win and be nominated for Best Picture Julia Phillips for The Sting (1973) First woman to win and be nominated for Best Documentary Nancy Hamilton for Helen Keller in Her Story (1955). Hamilton both produced and directed. Janice Loeb was nominated in 1948 as producer of The Quiet One but she did not direct it First woman to win Best Director Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker (2009) First woman of color to win and be nominated for Best Director Chloé Zhao for Nomadland (2020) First woman to be nominated for Best Director Lina Wertmüller for Seven Beauties (1976) First woman to be nominated twice for Best Director Jane Campion for The Piano (1993) and The Power of the Dog (2021) First woman to win Best Animated Feature Brenda Chapman for Brave (2012) First woman to be