By Samantha Ofole-Prince

Danielle Nicolet and Guillermo Díaz Announce Image Award Nominees

The 47th NAACP Image Award nominations, which were announced Dec. 9, 2015 live from the Paley Center in Beverly Hills, Calif. offered some surprises.

Announced by actors Guillermo Díaz (“Scandal”) and Tika Sumpter (“The Haves and the Have Nots”), films “Creed,” "Straight Outta Compton,” Dope,” and the Will Smith starrer “Concussion” were all nominated for best picture as expected. Snubbed in the overall best picture category was the Netflix drama “Beasts of No Nation,” although its young actor, 14 year-old old Abraham Attah who plays the role of a child soldier earned a best actor nod.

Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E

It’s an award many feel will likely go to Will Smith for “Concussion” or Michael B. Jordan for "Creed" – both are also nominated in the same category. “Beasts” did get in on the indie category along with the Spike Lee drama “Chi-Raq.” Completely snubbed was Oscar favorite Jason Mitchell, the actor who is known for brilliantly portraying Eazy-E in the biopic “Straight Outta Compton.”

Surprisingly, his cast members Corey Hawkins who plays Dr. Dre and O’Shea Jackson Jr., were both nominated for their respective roles. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Idris Elba respectively earned two best acting Image award nominations. Ejiofor received best acting nods for “Secret in Their Eyes” and “The Martian” and Elba for “Beasts of No Nation” and his BBC television drama “Luther.” The Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture nominees include Teyonah Parris, Zoe Saldana and Viola Davis.

On the TV side, the ABC comedy “Black-ish" swept the television category earning acting nods for several of its cast members and an Outstanding Comedy Series nomination, while Uzo Aduba received an Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series nomination for "Orange is the New Black." The popular TV show “Empire” also snagged a nomination for director Lee Daniels and acting nods for its cast Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard.

Beasts of No Nation Teen Actor Abraham Attah

Outstanding Documentary nods went to the “Amy," the documentary on the deceased British crooner Amy Winehouse, the Nina Simone doc "What Happened, Miss Simone?" and the piece on the black panthers "The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution."

The NAACP Image Awards celebrates the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of television, music, literature and film. Hosted by Anthony Anderson, winners will be announced during the two-hour event, which will broadcast live on TV ONE on Friday, Feb. 5, 2016 at 9pm/8c as a two-hour special.

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