Delroy Lindo is having a career moment decades in the making — and he’s feeling every bit of it.
The Sinners star earned his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his soulful turn as bluesman Delta Slim in Ryan Coogler’s vampire epic. For an actor who has spent more than five decades delivering powerful performances across film, television and theater, the recognition carries profound weight.
“It resonates very, very deeply because it’s so genuine and it’s a lot of people expressing their joy and their enjoyment of this moment for me. It’s beautiful,” Lindo tells Gold Derby.
Lindo’s nomination is more than a milestone — it’s a celebration of a body of work that includes standout roles in Da 5 Bloods, Malcolm X, and Get Shorty. As Delta Slim in the Coogler-directed drama, which received a record 16 Oscar nods, Lindo plays an addled musician with a redemptive arc and, as exhilarating as the awards attention has been, Lindo says the real reward came during production and seeing the audience’s response.
“I would say the joy that the film has brought, but it’s beyond joy,” he says. “The fact that the various themes that this story is conveying are apparently reaching audiences and that accounts for why, in my opinion, why audiences are going back multiple times to see this work.”
That audience connection was clear to Lindo from the moment he first read the script. He was so moved by what he saw on the page that he immediately reached out to Coogler. “I thought it was a very contemporary story. I emailed Ryan almost immediately and I said, ‘This is what I’m seeing. Is what I’m seeing accurate?” And he said, ‘Yes, this is what I’m trying to do with this story.’”
Once cameras started rolling, there was no easing into the role. Lindo says he doesn’t even remember how it all started.
“I don’t remember my first day of filming, and probably the reason that I don’t remember my first day of filming is because I was so intent on doing whatever scene I was doing,” he says. “It was just locking into whatever the requirement of the work was.”
That work ethic has defined Lindo’s career, and even as accolades roll in, he’s wary of lingering too long in celebration mode.
“It’s special. But I’m hesitant to live in that too deeply because my intention is to continue working. And this is a beautiful moment and I hope it leads to other beautiful moments.”
