Best Picture
“Oppenheimer,” a solemn three-hour biopic that became an unlikely billion-dollar box-office sensation, was crowed best picture at a 96th Academy Awards that doubled as a coronation for Christopher Nolan. The most closely watched contest of the Academy Awards went to Emma Stone, who won best best actress for her performance as Bella Baxter in “Poor Things.”
Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy have won their first Oscars. Robert Downey Jr. won best supporting actor at the Academy Awards, notching his first Oscar and handing the 58-year-old actor a crowning moment in an up-and-down career. Protests over Israel’s war in Gaza snarled traffic around the Academy Awards on Sunday, slowing stars’ arrival at the red carpet and turning the Oscar spotlight toward the ongoing conflict.
Best actor
Cillian Murphy came away from the Academy Awards with his first Oscar, the best actor statuette for his role in “Oppenheimer.” Murphy portrayed the man who created the atomic bomb in Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic.
On Sunday, the first-time nominee bested Colman Domingo for “Rustin,” Bradley Cooper for “Maestro,” Paul Giamatti for “The Holdovers,” and Jeffrey Wright for “American Fiction.”
“Oppenheimer” tells the story of how J. Robert Oppenheimer and his peers at Los Alamos would test the bomb on July 16, 1945, not knowing what was going to happen, and the ensuing fallout.
Best actress
Emma Stone has won the best actress Oscar for “Poor Things,” her second career victory in the category.
She triumphed over Lily Gladstone of “Killers of the Flower Moon” in a race most pundits said was too close to call. Gladstone would have been the first Native American to win an Oscar.
Stone was honored for her tour-de-force performance as Bella Baxter, a childlike woman in Victorian London who comes to life through a brain transplant and begins a journey of self-discovery. She previously won best actress in 2017 for the romantic musical “La La Land.”
Best supporting actor
Robert Downey Jr. has won his first Oscar. It comes three decades after his first Academy Award nomination. Downey won on Sunday for best supporting actor for “Oppenheimer,” the lead Academy Awards nominee with 13 nods.
It was his third career Oscar nomination and second in the supporting actor category. Downey won for his performance as Rear Adm. Lewis Strauss in “Oppenheimer,” which follows physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and a team of scientists developing the atomic bomb.
The Oscar win concludes a strong awards season for Downey. He also had supporting actor wins at the Golden Globes, BAFTA, SAG Awards and Critics Choice Awards.
Best supporting actress
While tears rolled down Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s face, she collected her first Oscar then delivered a powerful speech about her realizing that she’s good enough as an actor.
“I always wanted to be different. Now I realize I just need to be myself,” said Randolph, who won the best supporting actress statuette Sunday for her role as Mary Lamb in Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers.”
She continued her awards season sweep, previously winning at other shows including the Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA and Golden Globes. Randolph earned a Tony Award nomination in 2012 for “Ghost The Musical”
