Who are these not so well-known 2019 Oscar nominees?

Despite winning a 2017 Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe for her work in AMC’s “The Night Manager," Olivia Colman isn’t nearly as well-known in the U.S. as she is in her native England. Though she’s got an impressive three BAFTAs and four BIFAs on her trophy shelf, she’s only now receiving her first Academy Award nomination, for her bravura turn as the childlike, gout-ridden Queen Anne in “The Favourite." If Hollywood knows what’s up, we’ll be seeing lots more of Colman — one of the most versatile actors working today — over the next decade.

Alfonso Cuarón’s arduous, exacting search for a young woman to play a character based on the maid who raised him led the filmmaker to 24-year-old schoolteacher Yalitza Aparicio. Though she’d never acted in a movie before, Cuarón entrusted her with, essentially, being the on-screen heart and soul of his film. His instincts were spot on: Aparicio is a revelation, and his film is a cinematic tour de force. Though Aparicio admits the process was daunting at times, she’s told reporters that she’d like to stick with acting.

Ruth Carter exploded onto the costume design scene 30 years ago with her wildly colorful and eclectic work on “School Daze," “Do the Right Thing” and “I’m Gonna Get You Sucka.” (She’s the genius behind Antonio Fargas’ platform shoes with goldfish bowls in the heels.) She was nominated twice in the '90s for “Malcolm X” and “Amistad," but for whatever reason, it took the Academy a couple of decades to wise up, remember that she’s one of the best designers we’ve got and give her a long overdue third nomination for her eye-popping Afrofuturistic outfits in “Black Panther." 

Given the baffled reaction to Caleb Deschanel’s sixth Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematographer, it appears a sizable chunk of moviegoers require a primer on one of the industry’s top craftsmen. Though the film for which he’s nominated, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s “Never Look Away," wasn’t considered a major contender, Deschanel’s brilliant body of work (e.g., “The Black Stallion," “The Right Stuff” and “The Natural”) makes him an automatic contender every time he steps behind the camera. He’s unlikely to win, but that’s par for the course: Despite his six Oscar nods, he’s never taken home the trophy. (And, yes, he’s the proud papa of Zooey and Emily.)

Having cut his teeth as camera assistant on big Hollywood productions like “Divergent” and “Jupiter Ascending," Bing Liu is now poised to win a Best Documentary Oscar for his deeply personal (and absolutely heartbreaking) chronicle of tight-knit skateboarding friends caught in a vicious cycle of domestic abuse. Liu shares his first Oscar nomination with his producer, Diane Moy Quon, a former Paramount marketing exec who’s kicking off her producing career on a decidedly auspicious note.

Natalie Portman gave Britell his first bit of exposure when he scored her debut short film, “Eve,” in 2008. Since then it’s been a rapid rise through the ranks of prominent film composers, resulting in his first Oscar nomination in 2016 for “Moonlight." He’s back three years later with his mesmerizing score for “If Beale Street Could Talk," which effortlessly glides from hope to sorrow, reflecting the moment-to-moment uncertainty the film’s young characters have experienced every day of their lives.

Paweł Pawlikowski has been wowing art house moviegoers with his visually striking films for over 20 years, but curiously it wasn’t until he started shooting his films in black and white that Academy voters took notice. His 2013 drama “Ida” won Best Foreign Film, and he has an excellent shot at going two for two in that category with his follow-up, the 1950s set romance “Cold War." But could he pull off an upset in this year’s up-for-grabs Best Director category? If he does, he’ll have the opportunity to step out of the black-and-white shadows and bask in the mega-budget sunshine of a Hollywood production (provided he’s a fan of superheroes and/or jedis).

This is Barry Alexander Brown’s second Academy Award nomination (he was up for his documentary “The War at Home” in 1979) but remarkably his first for Best Editing. While you might not know his name, you damn sure know his work, primarily his 15 feature collaborations with Spike Lee dating back to “School Daze” and including such masterpieces as “Do the Right Thing," “Malcolm X” and “25 ^th Hour." If this is Spike’s year (and it should be), then it better be Brown’s as well.

There isn’t a more sought-after production designer on the planet than Hannah Beachler. One could argue she was robbed of nominations for “Creed” and “Moonlight," but there was no denying her pivotal role in the visually astounding creation of Wakanda. No Marvel film to date has boasted such intricately detailed world building, and her visionary designs were vividly enhanced by veteran set decorator Jay Hart (previously nominated for “L.A. Confidential” and “Pleasantville”). 

“We want the finest wines available to humanity. We want them here, and we want them now.” A legend to Brits and cult movie aficionados the world over for his iconic performance as the alcoholic, out-of-work actor Withnail in “Withnail and I," Richard E. Grant is probably best known to U.S. viewers as Izembaro on “Game of Thrones” or John Seward in “Bram Stoker’s Dracula." These people have no idea what they’re missing. They can start getting caught up on 30-plus years of genius performances by checking out Grant as a mischievous drunk harboring a sad secret in Marielle Heller’s wonderful “Can You Ever Forgive Me?"

Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan made Oscar history in 2016 by becoming the first female team to earn nominations for Best Sound Editing. They didn’t win for Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land," but hopefully second time’s the charm for the director’s “First Man," a one-time awards front-runner that curiously faded down the stretch. If the film is going to win any Oscars, they should definitely go to Lee and Morgan, who slammed home the terror of space travel with aural ferocity.

The volatile nature of live performance is captured in all its euphoric/mortifying glory by this quartet of sound-mixing wizards. Zupancic and Morrow have been nominated before (for “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and “La La Land,” respectively), but they’ve yet to win. They’ll probably fall short again (“Roma” is a sound-mixing master class), but their collective work will be cherished for years by the multitudinous fans of this all-time weepie.

Deborah Davis is a study in perseverance. In 1998, the novice screenwriter happened across the twisted triangle of Queen Anne, her adviser/lover Sarah and maid Abigail, and she wrote her first script. Twenty-one years later, her labor of love (later punched up by Tony McNamara) is the foundation for one of the year’s most critically acclaimed films. This may be Davis’ first produced screenplay, but given the plaudits she’s received throughout awards season, we fully expect to see her name gracing the opening credits again and again.

Unless you’ve been marooned on a desert island for the last few years with only the farting corpse of Daniel Radcliffe to keep you company, you’ve definitely heard Göransson’s work. The longtime Childish Gambino collaborator co-wrote and produced the viral single “This Is America” and composed the propulsive music for the year’s highest-grossing movie, “Black Panther." If Göransson scores at this year’s Grammys and takes the Oscar, he could be halfway to the coveted EGOT at the age of 34.

Unlike her cast mate Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira is anything but a novice. A 20-year veteran of film and telenovelas, de Tavira is a familiar face in her native Mexico. But for many Americans, her complex portrayal of a mother cruelly diminished and ultimately discarded by her husband is serving as their introduction to this extraordinarily talented performer.

Mamoru Hosoda has emerged over the last decade as one of Japan’s top anime directors not named Hayao Miyazaki, but his recent triumphs, 2012’s “Wolf Children” and 2015’s “The Boy and the Beast," have failed to crack the Oscars’ somewhat unpredictable Animated Feature Film category. The whimsical, childlike “Mirai” may not be his best work to date, but the recognition from the Academy is long overdue. This is also the first nomination for his producer, Yûichirô Saitô.

You might remember Nick Vallelonga for his scintillating portrayal of Hot Dog Vendor in "FDR: American Badass" or Brian Currie's chameleon-esque turn as Nazi Biker "Irish" in "Stiletto." No? How about one of the seven direct-to-oblivion features Vallelonga's directed? Or the 2006 road trip comedy Currie wrote with D.B. Sweeney, which currently has one deeply unenthusiastic review on Rotten Tomatoes and presumably isn't looking to add more? Thought so. In any event, these two veteran Hollywood Z-listers (with A-lister Peter Farrelly's help) are about to beat Spike Lee for Best Adapted Screenplay with what is essentially "Driving Miss Daisy 2018."