SUNDAY MARCH 12– Actors and actresses left the 95th Academy Award show stage with happy tears after finally getting an overdue Oscar. This year, awards were swept by actors over 50 years old who had started their careers decades back.
Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh won “Best Actress” for her role in “Everything Everywhere all at Once,” becoming the first Asian woman and second Woman of Color (WOC) to win in this category. This marked Yeoh’s first Oscar, and she dedicated her win to all the moms in the world.
“I’m still here today … Finally, after 40 years, I get this,” Yeoh said to reporters backstage.
Ke Huy Quan won “Best Supporting Actor” for his role in “Everything Everywhere all at Once,” making him the second Asian man to win in this category. This was his first Oscar.
After beginning his acting career in 1984, Quan left the industry in his 20s due to the lack of Asian roles.
After about 30 years, he decided to continue his acting career, with no luck, until he was finally given another shot at acting with “Everything Everywhere all at Once.”
“Hollywood didn’t want me. There were no roles for me, so I spent the majority of my time in my late teens and early 20s just waiting for the phone to ring, and it rarely rang,” Quan said at The Hollywood Reporter’s “Actors Roundtable.” “The difficult part was to say goodbye to the dream that I always wanted, but it was just difficult to be an Asian actor at that time.”
Brendan Fraser won his first Oscar ever for “Best Actor” for his role in “The Whale.”
Fraser had spoken out in 2018 that in 2003 former Golden Globes president Philip Berk sexually assaulted him. Because of this, he was blacklisted from winning awards—until this year.
“I started in this business 30 years ago,” Fraser said during his closing speech. “Things didn’t come easily to me but there was a facility [in the acting industry] I didn’t appreciate at the time until it stopped.”
Lastly, Jamie Lee Curtis won Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
She had starred in older films like “Halloween,” “Freaky Friday,” and many more. Yet, none brought her an Academy Award.
“I know you look at me and think ‘nepo baby,’ that’s why she’s there, and I totally get it,” Curtis said during her acceptance speech. “But the truth of the matter is I’m 64 years old, and this is just amazing.”