Zoe Saldana took the Oscar for best supporting actress for her role in “Emilia Perez,” becoming, as she noted in her speech, the first Dominican American actor to win an Academy Award.
“Mami! Mami! My mom is here, my whole family is here,” Saldana cried as she reached the stage to accept the Oscar from Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who won the same honor a year ago. “Thank you to the Academy for recognizing the quiet heroism and the power in a woman like Rita.
“Everything brave, outrageous and good that I’ve ever done in my life is due to you,” Saldana said, speaking of and to her family again. “My grandmother came to this country in 1961. I am a proud child of immigrant parents with dreams and dignity and hard-working hands.
“I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, and I know I will not be the last,” she said.
“El Mal,” one of Saldana’s songs in “Emilia Perez,” later won the Oscar for best original song.
Moments earlier, Sean Baker won his second Oscar for “Anora,” this one for editing after also winning for best original screenplay.
“I truly appreciate the recognition for this because God, if you saw that footage, I saved this film in the edit, trust me,” said Baker, who in addition to writing and co-producing “Anora” is also its director. “That director should never work again.”
In winning best original screenplay, Baker’s thanks extended to “the sex worker community” – Anora is a dancer in a club. “They have shared their stories. They have shared their life experiences with me over the years. My deepest respect.”
The Oscar for adapted screenplay went to Peter Straughan for writing “Conclave,” while other Oscars in the first half of the show include “Flow,” the first-ever Latvian Oscar nominee, for best animated feature, while Paul Tazewell became the first Black man ever to win the Oscar for costume design for his work on “Wicked.”
The James Bond franchise wasn’t nominated for anything at the Academy Awards, but that didn’t mean our favorite spy didn’t get his moment in the spotlight at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday.
Its producers, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson were presented with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award at the recent Governors Awards, and after presenter Halle Berry acknowledged them and the other recipients of Governors Awards, the show shifted into a celebration of Bond and the music of the long-running film franchise.
Actress Margaret Qualley of “The Substance,” which moments earlier won the Oscar for best makeup and hair, danced on stage with a troupe of tuxedo-clad 007s before a trio of pop stars took turns in a medley of Bond theme songs.
Blackpink’s Lisa, currently starring in HBO’s “White Lotus,” opened with “Live and Let Die.” She was followed by Doja Cat singing “Diamonds Are Forever.” The tribute wrapped with Raye doing “Skyfall,” which, if we were reviewing this as a concert, would be the standout performance of the whole thing.