Clap for Him: Will Smith Wins Best Actor Award at the Golden Globes for His Portrayal of Richard Williams In “King Richard”

It’s a golden day for Will Smith!

After years of being nominated for multiple awards, the seasoned actor finally won his first Golden Globe on Jan. 9. Smith is taking home the award for the Best Actor in Motion Picture Drama category after capturing the essence of Venus and Serena’s father, Richard Williams, in the movie “King Richard.”

BERLIN, GERMANY – JANUARY 07: Will Smith attends the Berlin premiere of the movie “Bad Boys For Life” at Zoo Palast on January 07, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Matthias Nareyek/Getty Images for Sony Pictures)

Smith has been nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in the aforementioned category three times for his films “Ali”, “Pursuit of Happyness” and “Concussion.” His final two nominations were from the Musical/Comedy Series category for Best Television Actor. Smith at the time was being recognized for one of his most popular roles — in his television sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” He was nominated in both 1993 and 1994.

Now that he has his first Golden Globe in the bag, the next award Smith is predicted to be in the running for is an Oscar. While he has been nominated for that twice in 2001 for “Ali” and 2006 for the The Pursuit of Happyness he has not yet taken home that honor. In 2001, his film was beat out by Denzel Washington’s “Training Day.” It is predicted that they will battle it out for the Best Actor category once again this year.

As Smith focuses on securing his next award, the Golden Globes will be working on getting televised again by next year. In 2021, NBC decided against airing the program after the Hollywood Foreign Press Association faced criticism for its lack of diversity among its members. The HFPA is the organization that nominates and votes for the winners of the Golden Globes. Last May, it was reported in a Los Angeles Times exposé that out of the 87 members of the group none of them are Black.

There were also concerns about some group members being persuaded by studios allegedly giving them perks. Celebrities such as Ava Duvernay and Kerry Washington applauded companies for calling out HFPA, and both women advocated the necessity for change.

By October, HFPA announced it was welcoming 21 new journalists to its organization. The breakdown in demographics goes as follows. According to Variety, “48 percent identify as women 29 percent identify as Black, 24 percent identify as Asian, 29 percent identify as Latinx, 19 percent identify as Middle Eastern/North Africa.”