Best Supporting Actor 2025: Delroy Lindo in Sinners

Delroy Lindo received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Delta Slim in Sinners.

It is never a bad sight to see a terrific character actor get their due, though Lindo's due should've already happened for 2020, but regardless, a supporting performance getting a supporting actor nomination is a nice touch, which this is very much a traditional supporting performance. Lindo's part is relatively small in the scheme of the film, though essential for the spirit of the film, as the local musician/legend/busker/drunk just in the area where the two brothers Smoke/Stack (Michael B. Jordan) are planning on setting up their new juke joint, and he seems ideal for the evenings entertainment as a piano player. Lindo first appears as the charismatic side of the brothers Stack, and their cousin Sammie (Miles Caton), a fledgling musician, go about recruiting Lindo's Delta Slim in his busking spot at the railroad tracks. Lindo makes use of the character actor creed in making a big impact in a short amount of time and in this instance creating the many shades that make up Delta Slim. As we first get the harmonica playing musician where Lindo brings that generous performers vibe inviting you in to listen. Lindo brings a naturalistic comedic timing in acknowledging his particular fame with a slight self-deprecating yet at the same time prideful smile. Both the legend and the drunk. Potentially a scary drunk even when Sammie suggests playing near his spot, and Lindo’s snap delivery of threat, suddenly gives a different shade of a man desperate to keep what he has and knows how to use violence to keep it. That quick snap has a definite history of a life of fighting. 

When Stack offers him the job, you get a great contrast within Lindo’s performance where he declines, naming his current job to last him to the end of his life, there’s a quiet pathos in every word Lindo brings that offers such sincere, yet in its way both painful yet comforted acceptance of his final lot in life, contrasting that his the pitch perfect comical light in his eyes when he sees the special Irish beers he has waiting for him if he takes the job, which he does. On the ride over, we are granted the truth of Slim as explains his past where he and a friend were pulled into a police station for vagrancy, that ended up being a bit fortunate as it was for a gig. Lindo explains with a cautionary nostalgia of the past, before segueing naturally to full on nostalgia and joy with a bit of sadness as he explains the success of the day and even messing with his hosts by changing the tempo. The story continues though as he explains his friend tried to go off to start a church with their earnings, where Lindo’s face fills with such a natural and years of burdened dread as he explains that this led to the lynching of his friend. The story is horrible as it is, in Lindo’s eyes you see the whole sense of the pain of the life of Delta Slim, and in turn how much he has to hold onto the bits of joy, in his drink and in his music he can find. 

In the actual night of music, Lindo is frequently in the background of scenes however he makes his marks whenever he can with quick perfectly delivered asides on the night. We do get a more pivotal moment of his words of wisdom about the magic they have in their musical talent, which Lindo delivers with such honest directness of a man who wholly believes in that gift and the sense of warmth and care as he essentially passes his mantle onto the younger man. When the vampires show up, Lindo is quite great in offering essential comic relief in his reactions when dealing with one of the first turned with his appropriately humorous suspicious lines against the possible vampire, then his exceptional delivery of “I think I shat myself” which is a perfectly executed button on the scene after the vampire reveals itself in all its horror. With the setup of the vampires outside and the survivors, including Slim, on the inside we set up towards the climax, which on rewatch still stands as unfortunately the weakest part of the film. Thankfully we do get one focused Lindo bit as the survivors try the Thing test, but with garlic, which Slim struggles to keep down, not due to vampirism but due to alcohol. Lindo’s physical work is remarkable in finding just the right sounds as he goes from possible beast to as we hear him more clearly as just a guy with too many things in his gut that his gut doesn’t want in there. Sadly the final confrontation doesn’t give Lindo too much meat to chew on. There is a mild setup where Slim proclaims he will sacrifice himself for everyone else if it comes to that, which Lindo delivers with a nice bit of assuring warmth when it is needed most. But when the moment comes, and Slim suddenly opens his veins to distract the vampires, in terms of pacing it is so fast Lindo is given little real estate to sell the moment. It falls a bit into a certain “I guess time to commit suicide” trope used that just stretches credulity. I’ll say the film tries to lay the groundwork, yet I still didn’t believe it, and maybe more so annoys me because it robs Lindo of a potential more interesting exit. Having said that, this is a strong genuinely supporting performance from a remarkable character actor. Yes it does look easy, but that only speaks to the considerable talents of Lindo. Lindo breathes real life into Slim, amplifies every little moment he is given, and manages to naturally bring so much heart, humor and pathos in his brief screentime.