Theatre favorites reigned supreme in the television and movie categories of the 2021 NAACP Image Award nominations, announced February 2. Among the leading contenders: the direct stage-to-screen adaptations of P-Valley, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and One Night in Miami…, along with the film capture of Hamilton. Winners will be announced in a televised ceremony on BET March 27 at 8 PM ET.
The most nominated film this year is the musical Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey with 10 nods, including Outstanding Motion Picture. The Netflix movie, originally planned as a stage production, was an instant holiday favorite upon its release in November 2020. Jingle Jangle’s leading cast members Forest Whitaker, Madalen Mills, Anika Noni Rose, and Phylicia Rashad all earned nods for their performances along with an Outstanding Ensemble nomination. Writer-director David E. Talbert also scored two nominations for his work behind-the-scenes.
READ: David E. Talbert on Creating A Genre-Defying Musical Adventure
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and One Night in Miami… were also nominated for Outstanding Motion Picture, the former earning the second-highest total of nominations this year with nine. Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Colman Domingo, Glynn Turman, and Taylour Paige scored performance and ensemble nods, while George C. Wolfe earned a nomination for Outstanding Direction of a Motion Picture. One Night in Miami… scribe Kemp Powers is nominated for Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture.
Hamilton scored four nominations: Outstanding Television Movie, Limited-Series, or Dramatic Special; Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Limited-Series, or Dramatic Special for Daveed Diggs and Leslie Odom, Jr.; and Outstanding Writing in a Television Movie or Special for Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Playwright Radha Blank earned breakthrough, writing, and directing nominations in the motion picture category for her Netflix feature film debut The Forty-Year-Old Version.
On the TV side, P-Valley (based on Katori Hall's Pussy Valley) earned six nominations, including Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series and Outstanding Creative Breakthrough (Television) for Hall, along with nods for its two leads: Brandee Evans and Nicco Annan. Bridgerton, which recently received the TikTok musical treatment, earned a nod for Outstanding Drama Series and nominations for two of its performers.
Additional theatre favorites receiving nominations include A Soldier’s Play Tony nominee Blair Underwood, Laurence Fishburne, Jenifer Lewis, Simone Missick, Delroy Lindo, Jeffrey Wright, and Lynn Whitfield. Debbie Allen is one of five nominees for the Social Justice Impact Award with Tony and Oscar winner Viola Davis nominated for Entertainer of the Year Award. Davis is also nominated for her performance in the final season of How to Get Away With Murder.
