90s Trivia Questions and Answers
Trivia about the 1990s: the films and Oscar winners, the music, the sport, and the news stories people talked about at the time. Every question is tied to the years 1990 to 1999. Answers are shown under each one.
There are 48 questions on this page. They are free to use for quiz nights, classrooms and pub quizzes, and each one links to its own page.
Related lists: 80s trivia questions, 70s trivia questions, Oscars trivia questions, Music trivia questions.
1.Which people won the Academy Awards for Best Actress and Best Actor for the 1996 film year?
Answer: FRANCIS McDORMAND Fargo / GEOFFREY RUSH Shine
Open this question2.Two females won Oscars for their roles in the 1993 film, "The Piano" - the lead actress as well as the young supporting actress. Can you name these two women?
Answer: HOLLY HUNTER / ANNA PAQUIN
Open this question3.In June, 1994, the French, British and Americans celebrated the 50th anniversary of what event?
Answer: D-DAY - Brit, Amer, and Canadian forces landed on Normandy beaches and began liberation of Europe from German control
Open this question4.Which 1995 film, based on an 1811 Jane Austin novel, starred Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant?
Answer: SENSE AND SENSIBILITY
Open this question5.Susan Sarandon was nominated as best actress in 1991, 1992, and 1994, and won in 1996. For which four films?
Answer: THELMA AND LOUISE / LORENZO'S OIL / THE CLIENT / DEAD MAN WALKING
Open this question6.What 1998 treaty was signed to end a long-standing bloody conflict in a part of the United Kingdom?
Answer: GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT (Belfast Agreement) - signed by the UK and Irish governments and political parties in Northern Ireland
Open this question7.The title of the Oscar-winning 1994 film contained the name of its primary, fictional character. What was it?
Answer: FORREST GUMP
Open this question8.This 1993 music album featured cover art designed by the recording artist's wife, a model. Name the singer, album, and artist.
Answer: BILLY JOEL / RIVER OF DREAMS / CHRISTIE BRINKLEY
Open this question9.What was the name of the Long Island teenager who, in 1993, had an affair with auto mechanic Joey Buttafuoco, and then shot his wife, Mary Jo?
Answer: AMY FISHER
Open this question10.In this 1993 movie drama, Daniel Day-Lewis plays the role of Gerry Conlon, a small time troublemaker from Belfast who's falsely accused and convicted of a being an IRA terrorists who bombed a pub in Guildford, England, in 1974. What was the title?
Answer: IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER
Open this question11.Geoffrey Rush won an Oscar in 1997 for his role as a troubled pianist. Name the film and the character he played.
Answer: SHINE / DAVID HELFGOTT
Open this question12.A television comedy with moderate ratings tripled its average viewership on the April 30, 1997 broadcast. Which show, what star, why?
Answer: ELLEN / ELLEN DEGENERES / COME OUT AS LESBIAN
Open this question13.What was the name of the 1991 film about an Irish soul-music band?
Answer: THE COMMITMENTS
Open this question14.In 1996, Tom Cruise produced and starred in which film?
Answer: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
Open this question15.He was in a safe house, on anti-depressant drugs. He was miserable. He couldn't leave his home because he would be hounded by the media - in fact his life could be in danger! 1992 in Los Angeles. Who is he?
Answer: RODNEY KING
Open this question16.What was the title of the 1990 fantasy directed by Tim Burton about a young man with multi-bladed appendages, and who played the lead role?
Answer: EDWARD SCISSORHANDS / JOHNNY DEPP
Open this question17.In the 1992 Presidential election, what was the name of H. Ross Perot's running mate?
Answer: ADMIRAL JAMES STOCKDALE
Open this question18.Extremely popular in the 1990's, he is the only athlete to have played in both a Super Bowl game and a World Series game. Who is he?
Answer: DEION SANDERS
Open this question19.In July, 1994, the World Cup of Soccer was held in the United States. The final three games of this tournament were held in which stadium?
Answer: ROSE BOWL, in Pasadena, California
Open this question20.June 29, 1995 - The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis successfully docked with the Russian space station called what?
Answer: MIR
Open this question21.Which two NFL teams met in Super Bowl XXX on January 28, 1996, and what was the score?
Answer: DALLAS COWBOYS DEF. PITTSBURGH STEELERS 27-17
Open this question22.Who played the film role of the nervous parents in the 1991 movie, Father of the Bride ?
Answer: STEVE MARTIN / DIANE KEATON
Open this question23.The 1990 film, Reversal of Fortune, was a film about attorney Alan Dershowitz defending an arrogant man accused of murdering his wife. Name the husband and wife.
Answer: CLAUS VON BULOW / SUNNY VON BULOW
Open this question24.When this book went on sale in the fall of 1991, it sold hundreds of thousands of copies in less than one month and shot up to #1 on the New York Times Bestsellers list. This book was the sequel to Gone With the Wind . What is its title, and who was the author?
Answer: SCARLETT / ALEXANDRA RIPLEY
Open this question25.Which pop music star was born Henry John Deutschendorf in Roswell, New Mexico in 1943, and died in the late 1990's near Monterey, California?
Answer: JOHN DENVER
Open this question26.Meryl Streep received another Oscar nomination for her role in what 1995 romantic film co-starring Clint Eastwood?
Answer: THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY
Open this question27.When Michael Jordan retired from the Chicago Bulls for the first time in 1994, he signed a minor-league contract with what major league baseball team?
Answer: CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Open this question28.Released October, 1991 was a retrospective musical album, called Two Rooms , with performances by Rod Stewart, Sting, George Michael, Jon Bon Jovi, and others, featuring songs written by which talented songwriting team?
Answer: ELTON JOHN / BERNIE TAUPIN
Open this question29.In 1633, the Roman Catholic Church condemned this man for teaching that the Earth revolves around the Sun. In 1992, after a 13-year investigation by the church, Pope John Paul II pardoned him. Who was he?
Answer: GALILEO - because he recanted his theories, he spent last four years of his life to 1642 , under house arrest, rather than being burned at the stake.
Open this question30.The 1991 film, Silence of the Lambs won the four major Oscars: Actor, Actress, Director and Film. Can you name the Oscar-winning actor, actress, and director?
Answer: ANTHONY HOPKINS / JODY FOSTER / JONATHAN DEMME
Open this question31.Which person said, in March of 1998, "They can affect my reputation. They can do nothing to affect my character"?
Answer: BILL CLINTON
Open this question32.In November, 1991, at his home in London, this lead singer of the music group Queen died of complications from AIDS. Who was he?
Answer: FREDDY MERCURY
Open this question33.In which 1992 film did Antonio Banderas and Armand Assante play brothers who flee Cuba with dreams of Latin music stardom in New York City?
Answer: THE MAMBO KINGS
Open this question34.What 1992 film drama starred Demi Moore, Tom Cruise, and Jack Nicholson?
Answer: A FEW GOOD MEN
Open this question35.Shortly after the immensely popular TV show, The Cosby Show, ended in 1992, Bill Cosby was back on TV, hosting a remake of which TV quiz show, originally starring Groucho Marx?
Answer: YOU BET YOUR LIFE
Open this question36.In this 1993 film, a versatile actor played the role of both the President of the United States, and a presidential look-alike. Which actor, which film?
Answer: KEVIN KLINE / "DAVE"
Open this question37.In the list of Oscar nominees for Best Actor in 1993, two of them played biographical roles. The films were Chaplin and Malcolm X. Name the nominated actors.
Answer: ROBERT DOWNEY, JR. / DENZEL WASHINGTON
Open this question38.This 1992 horror/drama film was based on an 1897 novel. It was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and starred Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves. What was the title?
Answer: BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA
Open this question39.The Best Supporting Actor Oscar in a 1996 film went to an actor named after a Caribbean island. Which actor, which film?
Answer: CUBA GOODING, JR. / JERRY MAGUIRE
Open this question40.What was the title of the 1992 comedy in which a Reno lounge singer accidentally witnesses a murder, and hides out in a convent—where she becomes the choir leader, teaching the sisters to boogie down.
Answer: SISTER ACT whoopie goldberg
Open this question41.As a 7-year old child, he was invited to play violin at New York's Carnegie Hall. He grew up to become one of the world's great violin virtuosos, and he died in 1999. Who was he?
Answer: YEHUDI MENUHIN
Open this question42.Which Disney film, released around Thanksgiving, 1992, passed $200 million in total box office ticket sales within the first six months of its release, and became one of the top money making films of all time?
Answer: ALADDIN
Open this question43.Tom Hanks won Best Actor Oscars in 1993 and 1994 for his roles in which films?
Answer: PHILADELPHIA 93 / FORREST GUMP 94
Open this question44.What was the title of this 1991 film, set in California, which starred Woody Allen and Bette Midler?
Answer: SCENES FROM A MALL
Open this question45.What was the sub-title of the successful 1999 film Star Wars Episode I ?
Answer: THE PHANTOM MENACE
Open this question46.Between 1988 and 1992, three Oakland A's won the Most Valuable Player award in the American League. Who were they?
Answer: 88: JOSE CANSECO / 90: RICKEY HENDERSON / 92: DENNIS ECKERSLEY
Open this question47.This 1990 autobiographical comedy was based on Carrie Fisher's journey through addiction, and her relationship with her Debbie Reynolds-type mother. What was the film title, and which actresses played the lead roles of mother and daughter in this film?
Answer: POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE / MERYL STREEP / SHIRLEY MACLAINE
Open this question48.Barbra Streisand directed and starred in this 1991 film in which she plays a psychiatrist dealing with Nick Nolte's demons. Name this film title, based on a novel by Pat Conroy.
Answer: PRINCE OF TIDES
Open this question