David Oyelowo, the British actor who stars as Martin Luther King Jr in acclaimed civil-rights drama Selma, has admitted to being “bothered” by the Oscars snubbing of his performance.

Asked if he was disappointed not to have picked up a nomination for best actor ahead of next month’s ceremony, Oyelowo told Esquire the decision had upset him for a number of reasons.

“Yeah, it bothers me,” he said. “It bothers me because it’s the best reviewed film of the year. It’s a film that doesn’t direct or act itself. It bothers me because it’s Dr King – one of the most significant human beings in American life, and I want him celebrated. Whether we like it or not, these accolades feed into that legacy.”

Selma: watch the trailer for the Martin Luther King drama Guardian

No black actor is among the 20 nominees for acting prizes at this year’s Oscars, a situation which has drawn criticism from those advocating diversity in Hollywood. Oyelowo suggested Selma’s snub reflected the membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which organises the famous ceremony.

“The great thing is that the film is transcending all of that in terms of its notoriety and people loving the film, but that situation is representative of the demographic that votes for these things, and hopefully that’s going to change going forward,” he said, adding: “So yeah, it’s not something I saw and then did cartwheels over going, ‘Woohoo, I didn’t get nominated’, but we did our bit and that I can say for sure.”

Selma, which did pick up Oscar nominations for best film and best song, tells the story of the historic 1965 marches by civil-rights advocates from the titular Alabama town to the the state capital, Montgomery, 54 miles away, during which they were clubbed and tear-gassed by state troopers. The marches led directly to legislation that finally brought equal suffrage for southern African-Americans through the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Oyelowo signalled he had no regrets about playing the career-changing role of King Jr. “To be in Atlanta in front of 500 extras in the place Dr King was from – and to be afforded the opportunity to say words which I really believe in – was extraordinary,” he said. “We’re actors, it’s a movie, we’re reconstructing what happened, but the power of those moments are very real. I’d always been sure as to why we were making this movie, but I couldn’t have anticipated the sheer power of it – to feel the blast of that was quite something.”