Yalitza Aparicio never saw herself in film while growing up. In fact, the absence of anyone on film that the Roma star could identify with pushed her to stop really appreciating cinema altogether. But while she was on track to becoming a teacher, everything changed. Yalitza accompanied her sister, Edith, to a casting call for Alfonso Cuarón’s film. When it came time to audition, Edith felt unwell and hesitated, so she persuaded Yalitza to try out instead. The director had already looked at tapes of more than 3,000 women in search of the right actor to play the role of Cleo, a domestic worker for a middle-class family living in Mexico City during the 1970s, a family based on his own.
Yalitza won the role.
Roma now has 10 Oscar nominations, including Yalitza’s best actress nomination. It’s a groundbreaking achievement for both the performer and Hollywood — she’s one of the very few indigenous people ever to have received a nod from the Academy. Over the past couple of months, Yalitza has gone from her quiet life in Mexico to jetting all over the world for screenings, photo shoots, red-carpet events, and more.
It’s still a bit much for the young woman coming off her first acting gig. Yalitza is taking it all in stride while being mindful of all the discussion heralding her performance and nomination as major moments for representation. Because while she may not have had someone to look up to on the screen when she was younger, now she’s setting the example. As part of Teen Vogue’s Young Hollywood Class of 2019, Yalitza opened up about the responsibility on her shoulders, what she has splurged on, and more.
Bradley Cooper – A Star Is Born as Jackson “Jack” Maine
Willem Dafoe – At Eternity’s Gate as Vincent Van Gogh
Rami Malek – Bohemian Rhapsody as Freddie Mercury
Viggo Mortensen – Green Book as Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga
BEST ACTRESS
Yalitza Aparicio – Roma as Cleodegaria “Cleo” Gutiérrez
Glenn Close – The Wife as Joan Castleman
Olivia Colman – The Favourite as Anne, Queen of Great Britain
Lady Gaga – A Star Is Born as Ally Maine
Melissa McCarthy – Can You Ever Forgive Me? as Lee Israel
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali – Green Book as Don Shirley
Adam Driver – BlacKkKlansman as Philip “Flip” Zimmerman
Sam Elliott – A Star Is Born as Bobby Maine
Richard E. Grant – Can You Ever Forgive Me? as Jack Hock
Sam Rockwell – Vice as George W. Bush
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams – Vice as Lynne Cheney
Marina de Tavira – Roma as Sofía
Regina King – If Beale Street Could Talk as Sharon Rivers
Emma Stone – The Favourite as Abigail Masham
Rachel Weisz – The Favourite as Sarah Churchill
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Favourite – Written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara
First Reformed – Written by Paul Schrader
Green Book – Written by Nick Vallelonga & Brian Currie & Peter Farrelly
Roma – Written by Alfonso Cuarón
Vice – Written by Adam McKay
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen; based on the short stories All Gold Canyon by Jack London, The Gal Who Got Rattled by Stewart Edward White, and short stories by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
BlacKkKlansman – Screenplay by Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee; based on the book by Ron Stallworth
Can You Ever Forgive Me? – Screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty; based on the book by Lee Israel
If Beale Street Could Talk – Screenplay by Barry Jenkins; based on the book by James Baldwin
A Star Is Born – Screenplay by Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters; based on the 1954 screenplay by Moss Hart and the 1976 screenplay by Joan Didion, John Gregory Dunne & Frank Pierson; based on a story by Robert Carson & William A. Wellman
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Capernaum – Nadine Labaki – Lebanon
Cold War – Paweł Pawlikowski – Poland
Never Look Away –Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck – Germany
Roma – Alfonso Cuarón – Mexico
Shoplifters – Hirokazu Kore-eda - Japan
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Incredibles 2 – Brad Bird, John Walker and Nicole Paradis Grindle
Isle of Dogs – Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson
Mirai – Mamoru Hosoda and Yūichirō Saitō
Ralph Breaks the Internet – Rich Moore, Phil Johnston and Clark Spencer
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Free Solo – Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes and Shannon Dill
Hale County This Morning, This Evening – RaMell Ross, Joslyn Barnes and Su Kim
Minding the Gap – Bing Liu and Diane Quon
Of Fathers and Sons – Talal Derki, Ansgar Frerich, Eva Kemme and Tobias N. Siebert
RBG – Betsy West and Julie Cohen
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Cold War – Łukasz Żal
The Favourite – Robbie Ryan
Never Look Away – Caleb Deschanel
Roma – Alfonso Cuarón
A Star Is Born – Matthew Libatique
BEST EDITING
Cold War – Łukasz Żal
The Favourite – Robbie Ryan
Never Look Away – Caleb Deschanel
Roma – Alfonso Cuarón
A Star Is Born – Matthew Libatique
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Black Panther – Production Design: Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Jay Hart
The Favourite – Production Design: Fiona Crombie; Set Decoration: Alice Felton
First Man – Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Kathy Lucas
Mary Poppins Returns – Production Design: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
Roma – Production Design: Eugenio Caballero; Set Decoration: Bárbara Enríquez
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – Mary Zophres
Black Panther – Ruth E. Carter
The Favourite – Sandy Powell
Mary Poppins Returns – Sandy Powell
Mary Queen of Scots – Alexandra Byrne
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Border – Göran Lundström and Pamela Goldammer
Mary Queen of Scots – Jenny Shircore, Marc Pilcher and Jessica Brooks
Vice – Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe and Patricia Dehaney
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Avengers: Infinity War – Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl and Dan Sudick
Christopher Robin – Christopher Lawrence, Michael Eames, Theo Jones and Chris Corbould
First Man – Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and J. D. Schwalm
Ready Player One – Roger Guyett, Grady Cofer, Matthew E. Butler and David Shirk
Solo: A Star Wars Story – Rob Bredow, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Dominic Tuohy
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Black Panther – Ludwig Göransson
BlacKkKlansman – Terence Blanchard
If Beale Street Could Talk – Nicholas Britell
Isle of Dogs – Alexandre Desplat
Mary Poppins Returns – Marc Shaiman
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“All the Stars” from Black Panther – Music by Mark Spears, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth and Anthony Tiffith; Lyrics by Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, Anthony Tiffith and Solána Rowe
“I’ll Fight” from RBG – Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren
“The Place Where Lost Things Go” from Mary Poppins Returns – Music by Marc Shaiman; Lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman
“Shallow” from A Star Is Born – Music and Lyrics by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt
“When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – Music and Lyrics by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch
BEST SOUND EDITING
Black Panther – Benjamin A. Burtt and Steve Boeddeker
Bohemian Rhapsody – John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone
First Man – Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan
A Quiet Place – Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
Roma – Sergio Díaz and Skip Lievsay
BEST SOUND MIXING
Black Panther – Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor and Peter J. Devlin
Bohemian Rhapsody – Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin and John Casali
First Man – Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Ai-Ling Lee and Mary H. Ellis
Roma – Skip Lievsay, Craig Henighan and José Antonio Garcia
A Star Is Born – Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic, Jason Ruder and Steve A. Morrow
BEST DOCUMENTARY – SHORT
Black Sheep – Ed Perkins and Jonathan Chinn
End Game – Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman
Lifeboat – Skye Fitzgerald and Bryn Mooser
A Night at the Garden – Marshall Curry
Period. End of Sentence. – Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Detainment – Vincent Lambe and Darren Mahon
Fauve – Jérémy Comte and Maria Gracia Turgeon
Marguerite – Marianne Farley and Marie-Hélène Panisset
Mother – Rodrigo Sorogoyen and María del Puy Alvarado
Skin – Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Animal Behaviour – Alison Snowden and David Fine
Bao – Domee Shi and Becky Neiman-Cobb
Late Afternoon – Louise Bagnall and Nuria González Blanco
One Small Step – Andrew Chesworth and Bobby Pontillas
