Athletes who won an Academy Award at the Oscars

Sunday saw the 96th edition of the Oscars, with the world's greatest actors and actresses recognized for their work over the past year.

Throughout the 96-year Academy Awards history, sports and entertainment have been intertwined to create captivating stories and cinema.

The Fan Arch website reported that many professional athletes have attempted to expand their careers beyond their chosen sport, creating new ways to explore their creativity and passion.

Want to see more like this? Follow us here for daily sports news, profiles and analysis!

Here are the athletes to have won an Academy Award at the Oscars!

According to Marca, the first athlete to win an Academy Award was NBA legend Kobe Bryant, who won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film in 2018. The film titled 'Dear Basketball' was based on his 2015 poem that announced his retirement from basketball.

The film was fitting a tribute to a legendary career in which he played for the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA, winning five NBA Championships, one NBA MVP, two Finals MVPs, and an 18-time NBA All-Star.

NBA legend and current Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant won an Oscar for being an executive producer on the film 'Two Distant Strangers.' Durant won the award for Best Live Action Short Film at the 2021 Academy Awards, according to the Benzinga website.

The film, starring rapper Joey Bada$$, is about a man who is stuck in an endless loop on the same day and moment he is killed by the police.

Fellow NBA star Mike Conley was also with Kevin Durant on the project and was given grief by his teammates for winning an Oscar before securing an NBA Championship, according to Sports Illustrated.

The 17-year NBA veteran said: "Guys in the locker room were giving me grief about it the other day, just like, 'You might win an Oscar before you win a championship.'" He added, "I was like, 'Hey if I could win both, that'd be great.'"

Want to see more like this? Follow us here for daily sports news, profiles and analysis!

The first of the two most recent athletes to win an Oscar is Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors, who won an Oscar as an executive producer of the film called 'The Queen of Basketball.'

The documentary, based on Lusia Harris, the first and only woman to be drafted into the NBA, won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject Documentary, according to Marca.

The fellow NBA legend to join Steph Curry on 'The Queen of Basketball' project was Shaquille O'Neal, the most dominant big man in NBA history with the LA Lakers.

'Shaq' is one of the most expansive athletes in the world, working in business, film, and as an NBA analyst on 'NBA on TNT.' The NBA legend has been acting in films since 1994 and was finally recognized as a creative at the 2022 Academy Awards.

According to Benzinga, Matthew A. Cherry was a standout wide receiver for the University of Akron, who went undrafted in the 2004 NFL Draft. He made four NFL practice squads but retired from the game in 2007 to pursue a career in film.

Cherry won an Oscar in 2020 for his film 'Hair Love' which was written, produced, and directed by the former wide receiver and won the prize for Best Animated Short Film. He dedicated the award to Kobe Bryant, who had died just months before he received the award.

Want to see more like this? Follow us here for daily sports news, profiles and analysis!