How diverse are this year’s Bafta film nominations?

The 2023 Bafta film nominations are some of the most diverse in the history of the awards.

Nearly four in 10 (38%) acting nominations have gone to non-white performers: the second highest proportion on record.

Half of the nominees for leading actress and supporting actress are non-white, though white performers have received the majority of nominations for leading actor and supporting actor.

The figure of 38% non-white acting nominees is up from 29% last year and is well above historical levels.

Only one other year has seen a more diverse line-up: 2021, when a record 67% of acting nominations went to non-white performers.

It is a stark contrast with the 2020 list, when every acting nominee was white.

A diverse range of nationalities is represented on the 2023 list, with nominations for actors from Australia, Cuba, Germany, Ireland, Malaysia and the Philippines, along with the UK and United States.

Ireland is particularly well-represented and accounts for a quarter of all 24 acting nominations, with nods for Kerry Condon, Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan (The Banshees Of Inisherin) plus Daryl McCormack (Good Luck To You, Leo Grande) and Paul Mescal (Aftersun).

Actors from the UK make up just five of the 24 nominations, or 21%: one of the lowest proportions on record.

The average since 2000 has been 33%.

In 2002, 60% of acting nominations went to British talent, and this remains the highest proportion so far this century.

A particularly lean year came in 2013, when British actors accounted for just 15% of the nominations.

Of the 24 people nominated in the four acting categories, 14 are first-time nominees – down from 19 in 2022 and 21 in 2021.

One area where diversity has taken a step backwards is in the category for best director.

Last year women made up half of the nominees, and in 2021 they outnumbered men by four to two.

This year just one woman has been nominated: Gina Prince-Bythewood, for the film The Woman King.

There have been only three female winners of the best director award in Bafta history: Kathryn Bigelow (for The Hurt Locker in 2010), Chloe Zhao (Nomadland in 2021) and Jane Campion (The Power Of The Dog in 2022).