Thank you for taking The Film Magazine’s 2023 Oscars quiz. Below are the official answers and brief context to help you check your score. If you’d like to share how you did, tag @thefilmagazine on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
The answers
1. Which performer (any gender) has won the most Oscars for acting?
A. Katharine Hepburn — 4 wins. Hepburn remains the record holder for acting Oscars. Her wins were for Morning Glory, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, The Lion in Winter and On Golden Pond, reflecting a remarkable career that spanned decades and a wide range of roles.
2. Name either of the performers to have been nominated 8 times in the Oscars’ acting categories without a win. (This is the most ever.)
A. Peter O’Toole or Glenn Close. Each was nominated eight times in acting categories without winning a competitive acting Oscar. O’Toole’s nominations include Lawrence of Arabia, Becket, The Lion in Winter, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, The Ruling Class, The Stunt Man, My Favorite Year and Venus. Glenn Close’s nominations include The World According to Garp, The Big Chill, The Natural, Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons, Albert Nobbs, The Wife and Hillbilly Elegy.
3. 2023 Oscar-nominated composer John Williams has been nominated 53 times by the Academy. How many times has he won?
A. 5 wins. John Williams has collected five Academy Awards over his long composing career. His wins include Fiddler on the Roof, Jaws, Star Wars, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Schindler’s List, highlighting a legacy of some of cinema’s most recognizable scores.
4. John Williams’ long-time collaborator Steven Spielberg is also nominated in 2023. How many times has Spielberg been nominated for Best Director?
A. 9 nominations for Best Director. Spielberg’s Best Director nominations include Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, Munich, Lincoln, West Side Story and The Fabelmans. He has won twice for Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan.
5. Which film was the first to ever win the Animated Feature Oscar?
A. Shrek. At the 2002 Academy Awards, Shrek was the first film to take home the Oscar for Best Animated Feature after the category was introduced, marking a milestone for animated cinema.
6. Name any 5 of the 10 most recent Best Picture winners.
A. CODA, Nomadland, Parasite, Green Book, The Shape of Water, Moonlight, Spotlight, Birdman, 12 Years a Slave, Argo. You only needed to name five from this recent decade-plus list of Best Picture winners.
7. Which film is the only non-English language film to ever win the Oscar for Best Picture?
A. Parasite. Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite made history in 2020 as the first—and so far only—non-English language film to win Best Picture, breaking a significant language barrier at the Academy Awards.
8. Only 2 silent films have ever won Best Picture. Name either of them.
A. Wings or The Artist. Both are silent-era winners: Wings (from the earlier era of filmmaking) and The Artist (a modern homage to silent cinema) have each earned a Best Picture Oscar.
9. Which superhero film was the genre’s first Best Picture nominee?
A. Black Panther. In 2019, Black Panther became the first superhero film nominated for Best Picture, a landmark moment for comic-book adaptations at the Academy.
10. Name any of the 3 films to have won 11 Oscars (the most in history).
A. Ben-Hur, Titanic or The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Each of these three films shares the record for the most Academy Awards won by a single film, with 11 wins apiece.
11. Which person has won more Oscars than anybody else?
A. Walt Disney — 22 competitive Academy Awards. Walt Disney holds the record for the most Oscar wins by an individual, a testament to his extensive impact on film and animation.
12. Which film controversially won the Best Editing Oscar in 2019?
A. Bohemian Rhapsody. The film’s win for Best Editing sparked discussion among critics and audiences about awards recognition and the editing choices that shaped the film’s pacing and structure.
13. Which cinematographer won the Oscar for Best Cinematography a record 3 times in a row between 2014 and 2016? (For films released 2013–2015.)
A. Emmanuel Lubezki. Lubezki won three consecutive Academy Awards for cinematography for Gravity, Birdman and The Revenant, earning acclaim for his innovative camera work and visual style.
14. In 2003, documentarian Michael Moore was booed at the Oscars for his speech in opposition to the War on Terror. For which film did he win that year’s Documentary Feature Oscar?
A. Bowling for Columbine. Michael Moore’s documentary won Best Documentary Feature in 2003; his acceptance speech that year drew strong reactions during a politically charged moment.
15. Who will host the 95th Academy Awards in 2023?
A. Jimmy Kimmel. The late-night host returned as host for the 95th Oscars ceremony in 2023.
Thank you for playing!
We hope you enjoyed the quiz and learned a few things about Academy Awards history. Don’t forget to tag @thefilmagazine to share your score and compare answers with fellow film fans.