Actors of colour could sweep all four major acting awards, with the late “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” star Chadwick Boseman — already a posthumous Golden Globe and SAG Awards winner for his heartbreaking role — all but expected to grab the gold over Best Actor nominees Anthony Hopkins (“The Father”), Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”), Steven Yeun (“Minari”) and Gary Oldman (“Mank”).
Chloé Zhao is first Asian-American woman to win Best Director Oscar
“Nomadland” filmmaker Chloé Zhao won the Oscar for Best Director, the first Asian-American woman to do so. (She and “Promising Young Woman” director Emerald Fennell also were the first two women to be nominated in the category in the same year.)
Zhao recalled a game she played with her father while growing up in China involving classic texts and poems. One phrase has stuck with her: ““People at birth are entirely good,” she said in her acceptance speech. “Even though sometimes it might seem like the opposite is true, but I have always found goodness in the people I’ve met everywhere I went in the world. So this is for anyone who has the faith and courage to hold onto the goodness in themselves and to hold onto the goodness in each other, no matter how difficult it is to do that.”
Chloé Zhao is first Asian-American woman to win Best Director Oscar
“Judas and the Black Messiah” star Daniel Kaluuya won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. “I’m so happy to be alive, so let’s celebrate that tonight,” he said in his remarks. “Let’s celebrate life, man. We’re breathing, we’re walking; it’s incredible,” cheekily adding a nod to his birth, “My mum, my dad, they had sex,” to a mortified reaction from his family in the audience.
Meanwhile, Boseman’s “Ma Rainey” co-star, SAG Award winner Viola Davis, is a front-runner for the other biggie — the Best Actress statue — alongside Andra Day (who won the Golden Globe for her role in “The United States vs. Billie Holiday”), Vanessa Kirby (“Pieces of a Woman”), Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”) and Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”).
And “Minari” star Yuh-Jung Youn took home the statue for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, accepting it from Brad Pitt. “I’d like to thank my two boys, who make me go out and work,” she joked in her remarks. “This is the result because mommy works so hard.”
Regina King kicked off the festivities at the Dolby Theatre, in front of a tiered, socially distanced, star-filled crowd. In her remarks, she led off with a reflection on the conviction of Derek Chauvin, who was found guilty last week on all charges in the 2020 killing of George Floyd.
“I’m gonna be honest: If things had gone differently in Minneapolis, I might have traded in my heels for marching boots,” she said, adding that the killing hit home for her. “As a mother of a black son, I know the fear that so many live with — and no amount of fame and fortune changes that.”
The 93rd annual Academy Awards, originally scheduled for Feb. 28, were postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The show is broadcasting from the Dolby Theatre and Union Station in downtown Los Angeles at 8 p.m. Sunday on ABC.