Sterling K. Brown.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Los Angeles: Sterling K Brown is happy to be nominated for the Oscar in the best actor in a supporting role category, but the American Fiction star says Robert Downey Jr will win the trophy for Oppenheimer at the upcoming awards.
Brown has secured an Oscar nod for his turn as Clifford Ellison in American Fiction, directed by Cord Jefferson, and Downey Jr is nominated for his career-defining turn as Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer.
Other nominees in the best actor in a supporting role category are Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon), Ryan Gosling (Barbie) and Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things).
During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Brown said he knows he won't win and he's "totally fine with it".
"I'mma tell you, Robert Downey Jr's gonna win, and he's incredibly deserving. He's an incredible actor. Like, you should give him love."
"The fact that I get a chance to be nominated along with him and Mr De Niro and Ryan Gosling and Ruffalo... I'm just happy to be in the room," the multiple Emmy winner said.
This is Brown's first-ever Academy Award nomination.
The actor also said he believes Colman Domingo, who was invited as a guest on the British talk show alongside Brown and Dakota Johnson and Domhnall Gleeson, will win the Oscar for best actor in a leading role for his turn as Bayard Rustin in Rustin.
The 96th Academy Awards will air on March 10.