The 86th Annual Academy Awards are soon approaching and there’s an element of the ceremony that might surprise you -- the inspiration behind the coveted 8-pound, 24-karat gold plated statue.

The treasured golden statue is modeled after a statuesque Mexican exile, Emilio Fernández, who became one of the most celebrated directors of Mexico's Golden Age of Cinema. Ironically, his life story could be worthy of an Oscar for its dramatic twists and turns.

Fernández, who started out as an exiled, undocumented immigrant-turned-model, Hollywood actor, screenwriter and director of the cinema of Mexico, was born in Mineral del Hondo, Coahuila on March 26, 1904.

His roots run deep from a political and indigenous perspective. His father, Fernando Garza, was a military man, until after 1910 when he became a revolutionary. His mother was a Kickapoo Indian, a tribe that inhabited the region of Sabinas. He dropped out of school to serve in the revolutionary uprising led by Adolfo de la Huerta.

President of Mexico Álvaro Obregón sent Huerta into exile (in Los Angeles, California) and Fernández received a 20-year prison sentence, but he fled Mexico and followed Huerta to the United States. From exile to the arts, Huerta worked as a music teacher and Fernández as an extra in Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s.

During his extra work in Hollywood, Fernández  was dubbed "El Indio" by the famous Mexican silent film star Dolores Del Rio. While it wasn't the most complimentary moniker, it turned out that Del Rio would eventually help Fernandez catapult his acting and directing career -- and in turn, Fernández would go on to further incorporate indigenous characters in Hollywood, according to Colorlines.

Del Rio was the wife of MGM Art Director Cedric Gibbons who was assigned the task of designing an award statuette for the Academy, which was founded in 1927. Gibbons sketched a figure of a knight holding a sword and standing on a reel of film, but he wanted to draw upon a real-life model and Del Rio suggested Fernández. After some initial hesitation and a little coaxing, Fernández eventually agreed, and in 1939 the official "Oscar" was created. To this day, many critics believe that the trophy should be called the "Emilio."

Fernández went on to share his talent in both Mexican and American films, including his notable classics, "The Fugitive" (1947), "The Night of the Iguana" (1964) and "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia" (1974).  

According to Studio 360, Dolores Tierney, a film professor at the University of Sussex says Fernández was known for telling stories about his life, but that the Oscar tale rings true.

"There are a lot of things that point to its veracity," Tierney explained, including Fernandez's physique, his relationship with Dolores Del Rio, and the plot of his award-winning magnum opus, "Maria Candelaria," which won the Grand Prix at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival.  

Fernández died in Mexico City in 1986 at the age of 82. 

Ironically, after a successful acting and directing career that spanned 50 years, the deserving Fernández never took home the esteemed award in which he was modeled after.