The 2024 Oscar nominations were released Monday morning, with many USC alumni in the running for various categories. Among them is America Ferrera, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, and director Sean Wang for Best Documentary Short.
Ferrera, who graduated from Dornsife with a degree in international relations in 2013, was nominated for her role in Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.” The film broke records by becoming the highest-grossing motion picture worldwide in Warner Bros. history, according to Box Office Mojo.
Sumeer Malik, a graduate student majoring in film and television production at the School of Cinematic Arts, was excited to hear that Ferrera is a Trojan.
“No one expected to see her because she wasn’t nominated for SAG or any of the others. It’s great because she deserves that, it’s a great performance,” Malik said. “It makes me feel more excited and lucky to be here, meeting new collaborators and people that I get to work with.”
Although Malik was unfamiliar with Ferrera’s Trojan background, he was familiar with Sean Wang, another USC alumnus whose film, “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó,” was nominated for Best Documentary Short Film.
Sean Wang, a USC SCA alum, is going head-to-head with two other SCA alumni in the Best Documentary Short Film Category, director S. Leo Chiang’s “Island in Between” and co-director Ben Proudfoot’s “The Last Repair Shop.”
“I’m a really big fan of this filmmaker Sean Wang, who is from Fremont, California… his first film, called Dìdi, just premiered at Sundance, and it’s getting a great response,” Malik said.
Victor Longin, a graduate student in the Peter Stark producing program at SCA, was pleasantly surprised to learn that Ferrera is a USC alumna.
“That’s super inspiring. It’s amazing she’s nominated now for best supporting actress,” Longin said.
During Ferrera’s time at USC, she was involved in the Joint Educational Project and the Teaching International Relations Program in Dornsife. Ferrera took a leave of absence during her studies at USC to pursue her acting career. Ten years later, she returned to complete her degree.
There are over half a dozen USC alumni nominated for Oscars, including Thornton School of Music graduate Ludwig Göransson, who earned his third Best Original Score nomination for his work on “Oppenheimer.”
“The history of the school of cinema is almost exactly parallel to the age of the awards themselves,” said David Isaacs, the Chair of the John Wells Division of Writing for Screen and Television at SCA. “Of course, people work with people they went to school with here; that’s very much part of the legacy of the school.”
The current Trojan nominees join the over 200 USC alumni that have garnered Academy Awards nominations since its inception.
“To be a part of an institution that is so closely associated with the industry, it’s almost like you could call it the minor league of the major leagues of filmmaking,” Isaacs said.