LONDON — Michael Caine says black actors should be “patient” for Oscar nominations, and that he wouldn’t vote for a black actor solely based on their race.

Speaking to the BBC, Caine said: “There are loads of black actors; I think in the end you can’t vote for an actor (just) because he’s black. You can’t say: I’m going to vote for him, he’s not very good but he’s black, (so) I’ll vote for him. You’ve got to give a good performance.”

Caine added that Idris Elba, who wasn’t nominated for this year’s Academy Awards, was “wonderful” in “Beasts of No Nation.”

His message to black actors was “be patient.” “Of course it will come. It took me years to get an Oscar,” he added.

Caine, who recently appeared in Paolo Sorrentino’s “Youth,” has nabbed six Oscar nomination, and won twice.

He said not going to the Oscar ceremony may be a blessing in disguise. “The great thing about it is you don’t have to go,” he said. “Especially the Oscars. Twenty-four hours on an airplane and I’m going to sit there clapping Leonardo DiCaprio. I love Leonardo, he played my son in a movie, but I’m too old to travel that far to sit in an audience and clap someone else.”