Only one Oscar has ever been given to a non-human actor

In the 96 years that the Academy Awards have been going, only on one occasion has a non-human walked away with a prestigious Oscar.

Well - not 'walked', technically but you get the picture.

Whilst countless films centring about animals have been nominated at the Los Angeles soiree - including the likes of Babe, War Horse, and Life of Pi, all of which were previously nominated for Best Picture - only once has an actual animal been bestowed with a win.

Let's travel all the way back to the year 1932.

At this point, only three officially Academy Award ceremonies had ever taken place, the first having kicked things off in 1929.

The star-studded celebration saw Lionel Barrymore bag Best Actor for his role in pre-Code drama film A Free Soul, and Marie Dressler walk away with the female counterpart for starring in comedy hit Min and Bill.

Despite not having starred in an specific movie or TV series, however, the 4th Oscars also saw animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur Walt Disney handed an honorary.

Why? For creating Mickey Mouse, of course!

The loveable animal cartoon was first introduced in 1928, before going on to appear in more than three dozen animation 'shorts'. And whilst, of course, there was no actual rodent to hand the award to on the night, Disney - who passed away in 1966, aged 65 - posed at the awards beside a stool, upon which a statue of Mickey stood.

Only once has a non-animal won an Oscar and that was, of course, Mickey Mouse (General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)

The sweet snap has since - according to USA Today - become a 'popular bit of internet lore', with many fans of the festivities claiming that the 1939 ceremony marked the first time that a non-human won an Oscar.

So far, actual living, breathing animals haven't yet been nominated for an award - even though the Academy's official guidelines don't state that an actor should be human to walk away with the accolade.

American journalist Susan Orlean claimed in her 2011 book Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend that Rinty had once received a huge proportion of Best Actor votes, but that awards bosses had concerns that animal victory would delegitimise the ceremony.

According to The Wrap, however, the Academy's former executive director Bruce Davis, later denied Orlean’s claim.

Netflix musical-drama Emilia Pérez has received the most nominations this year, with the 2025 ceremony kicking off on Sunday night (2 March).

Coming in at joint second are period-drama The Brutalist, and Broadway musical adaptation Wicked, which are up for 10 accolades each.