Brendan Fraser has won the Oscar for Best Actor at the 2023 Academy Awards.
The 54-year-old star scooped the prestigious prize for his role as morbidly obese father Charlie in the 2022 drama The Whale.
Fraser was undoubtedly the fan's choice to win going into the evening, with the beloved Mummy star enjoying what social media has dubbed 'The Brenaissance'.
The beloved actor took to the stage in an emotional moment, telling the audience in his speech: "So this is what the multiverse looks like!" He continued by thanking Darren Aronofsky for directing such a "bold film" and his fellow nominees for their "whale-sized hearts." Speaking of his co-star, Fraser then said: "Only whales can swim at the depth of the talent of Hong Chau."
Check out his amazing speech below:"I just want to say thank you for this acknowledgement, because it couldn't have been done without my cast," the father-of-three concluded, "it's been like I've been on a diving expedition at the bottom of the ocean and the air on the line to the surface is on a launch being watched over by some people my life. Like my sons Holden, and Leiland, and Griffin."
Fraser has spoken candidly about bringing Charlie - the 600-pound reclusive teacher - to our screens, and how he drew on his own son's experiences for inspiration.
"He just turned 20. He's a big kid, he's 6-foot-5. He’s got big hands and feet, a big body. I understand intimately what it is to be close to a person who lives with obesity," Brendan told Freddie Prinze Jr for Interview magazine.
The actor also revealed that eldest son Griffin, who has autism, is also the happiest person he knows. "Because of the beauty of his spectrum - call it a disorder if you will, I disagree with you - he knows nothing of irony," Fraser said. "He doesn't know what cynicism is. You can’t insult him. He can't insult you. He's the happiest person and is, in my life and many others', also the manifestation of love."
This year's Best Actor category was potentially one of the most stacked in recent memory.
Following his early career as a teen star in shows like Zoey 101 and iCarly, Elvis was undoubtedly Austin Butler's breakout role, which saw him earn critical acclaim for his captivating portrayal of one of music's greatest performers.
In fact, the role saw him earn the Golden Globe Award and BAFTA for Best Actor.
And the performance did not go unnoticed by Presley's family, with the late Lisa-Marie Presley saying last year (per Entertainment Weekly): "It's almost as if [Butler] channeled him. He put everything he had, his heart, his soul, everything he had into researching, reading, watching, learning. He honored him in every way possible."
Colin Farrell's role in Martin McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin marked the first time the star has ever been nominated for Best Actor at the Academy Awards.
The black tragicomedy saw Farrell once again reunite with co-star Brendan Gleeson, whom he had starred alongside in McDonagh's directorial debut In Bruges.
Prior to the movie's release, Farrell spoke with Collider about the importance of leaving behind a legacy, to which he said: "Whatever the gig is, if it’s made for purely entertainment purposes, or for some greater intellectual or social provocation, you just wanna make something where people don’t waste an hour and a half, or two hours, of their lives, as simple as that sounds.
"If you do that, and if you live as authentically as you can in your life and in your art, then the legacy thing will take care of itself."
It is hard to believe that Paul Mescal only had one feature-length movie credit to his name prior to the release of Charlotte Wells' Aftersun.
The drama resonated with viewers upon its premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, and it wasn't long before there was Oscar buzz around the 27-year-old.
Speaking to Vanity Fair about his Academy Award nomination, the young star said: "There’s just something so alluring, so seismic about that night. I can’t describe what will be going through my head driving to it. It’s not that it doesn’t make sense, because I’ve had enough time to process the fact that it’s happening. But the picturing of myself within it is... something."
Bill Nighy, this year's oldest nominee at 73, also received his first Academy Award nomination this year.
Congratulations to Brendan Fraser.
