LOS ANGELES — Wagner Moura made history Thursday morning when he was nominated for an Academy Award in the category for actor in a leading role for his performance in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s 2025 film “The Secret Agent.”

This historic nomination makes Moura the first Brazilian actor nominated for an Oscar in this field.

In the film, Moura plays Armando, a former professor forced into hiding while trying to protect his young son during Brazil’s military dictatorship during the 1970s.

Should he win at the March 15 ceremony, Moura would become the first Brazilian to win an Oscar in an acting category.

Moura is the third Brazilian national to be nominated for an acting Oscar, joining the mother-daughter duo of Fernanda Montenegro and Fernanda Torres — both of whom were nominated for actress in a leading role.

Montenegro became the first Brazilian nominated in the category for her role as Isadora “Dora” Teixeira in the 1998 Walter Salles film “Central Station.” The award ultimately went to Gwyneth Paltrow for her performance in “Shakespeare in Love.”

Torres received her Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Eunice Paiva in 2024’s “I’m Still Here,” which was also directed by Salles. The Oscar that year was awarded to Mikey Madison for her work in “Anora.”

“The Secret Agent” star has already made history twice during this awards cycle.

He won the Golden Globe for lead actor in a motion picture drama earlier this month for the political thriller, becoming the second Brazilian and first Brazilian man to take home a Globes acting prize, after Torres’ win last year for “I’m Still Here.”

The 49-year-old actor also earned the actor prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, making him the first Brazilian performer to win that honor.

Moura’s nomination comes a year after “I’m Still Here” became the first fully Brazilian production to win an Academy Award with its win in the international feature category.

The 1959 film “Black Orpheus” — which retold the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in the context of 1950s Rio de Janeiro and featured a largely Brazilian cast — won the international feature award at the 32nd Academy Awards as the French submission and was helmed by French director Marcel Camus.

“The Secret Agent” represented a cinematic homecoming for the “Civil War” star after not starring in a Brazilian film for over a decade, he told The Times last year. Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s oppressive right-wing administration, the COVID-19 pandemic and commitments abroad prevented him from taking on a major acting job in his home country and in his native language.

Mendonça Filho told The Times that he initially worried if Moura — after so many years working away from Brazil — would bring some of the “Where’s my trailer?” attitude people assume exists in Hollywood. “He didn’t,” the director said. “He’s intelligent enough to adapt to each project.”

Even as his career has been shaped by politically charged projects, Moura has been careful not to let that element define him.

“I don’t want to be the Che Guevara of film,” Moura said. “I gravitate towards things that are political, but I like being an actor more than anything else.”

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