Delroy Lindo is claiming victory

This is Fresh Air, I'm Tanya Mosley, and my guest today is Delroy Lindo, an actor whose presence has shaped film and theater for more than 50 years. From West Indian Archie and Spike Lee's Malcolm X, to the charming and cruel drug Kingpin and Clockers, to a father guarding an unspeakable secret in the Ciderhouse rules. For me, Delroy's characters often feel lived in, complicated, and hard to shake. In Ryan Kugler's latest film, Sinners, Lindo plays Delta Slim, a hard-drinking, deeply knowing blues harmonica player in 1930s Mississippi. Blues wasn't forced on us like that religion.

So we brought this with us my home. It's magic what we do. It's sacred. A baby. Delroy Lindo is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Delta Slim, his first Oscar nomination in a 50-year career.

Sinners leads all films this year with 16 nominations. Lindo trained at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and made his name in the theater, Broadway, Yale Rep, and the Kennedy Center, performing August Wilson and Lorraine Hansbury before Spike Lee brought him to film audiences. Over the decades, he's moved between stage film and television, from Get Shorty and Ransom to his turn as the Razor Sharp attorney in The Good Fight. In 2020, he reunited with Spikely for Defy Bloods, playing a traumatized Vietnam vet, returning to the jungle to recover buried gold and the remains of a fallen soldier. Delroy Lindo, welcome to Fresh Air.

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