They may be supporting, but that doesn’t make them any less important.
Tonight, Hollywood’s biggest stars gathered for the 97th annual Academy Awards. During the ceremony, Zoe Saldaña won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Emilia Pérez and delivered a powerful speech that brought her to tears.
“My mom is here. My whole family is here,” she said. “I am floored by this honor. Thank you to the academy for recognizing the quiet heroism and the power in a woman like Rita and talking about powerful women. My fellow nominees, the love and community that you have offered to me is a true gift, and I will pay it forward.”
Saldaña continued, “My grandmother came to this country in 1961. I am a proud child of immigrant parents. With dreams and dignity and hard working hands. And I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award. And I know I will not be the last.”
Saldaña beat out a stacked group of nominees, including Monica Barbaro for A Complete Unknown, Ariana Grande for Wicked, Felicity Jones for The Brutalist and Isabella Rossellini for Conclave.
The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress has been around since the ninth annual ceremony in 1937. Last year, Da’Vine Joy Randolph took home the statuette for her role in The Holdovers. She was up against Emily Blunt for Oppenheimer, Jodie Foster for Nyad, Danielle Brooks for The Color Purple and America Ferrera for Barbie.
Other previous winners include Jamie Lee Curtis for Everything Everywhere All at Once, Ariana DeBose for West Side Story, Yuh-jung Youn for Minari, Laura Dern for Marriage Story, Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk, Allison Janney for I, Tonya, Viola Davis for Fences, Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl, Patricia Arquette for Boyhood, Lupita Nyong’o for 12 Years a Slave, Anne Hathaway for Les Misérables, Octavia Spencer for The Help and Melissa Leo for The Fighter.
Thelma Ritter (All About Eve, Pillow Talk) currently holds the record for most nominations in this category, with a total of six. She’s followed by Amy Adams (Vice, The Fighter), who has five nods.
*Pops Champagne*
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