At the Oscars, Emma Stone beats Lily Gladstone in closely watched best actress race

In an Academy Awards race that was too close to call, "Poor Things" star Emma Stone won the best actress Oscar Sunday night over trailblazing "Killers of the Flower Moon" star Lily Gladstone.

For her powerhouse portrayal of Mollie Kyle Burkhart — a wealthy real-life Osage woman who was marked for death in the Reign of Terror in 1920s Oklahoma — Gladstone became the first Native American to be nominated for best actress in the nearly 100-year history of the Academy Awards. A native of Montana, Gladstone is NiMíiPuu, or Nez Perce, and Siksikaitsitapi, or Blackfeet.

It was Stone's second Oscar victory — she previously won best actress for 2016's "La La Land" — and she seemed visibly shocked as she took the Dolby Theatre stage holding the back of her gown.

"My dress has broken. I think it happened during 'I'm Just Ken.' I'm pretty sure," Stone said, referring to her "La La Land" co-star Ryan Gosling's crowd-pleasing performance of his Oscar-nominated "Barbie" anthem.

"Oh boy, this is really overwhelming. ... My voice is also a little gone — whatever."

She paid tribute to her fellow best actress nominees: Gladstone, Sandra Hüller, Annette Bening and Carey Mulligan.

"I share this with you. I'm in awe of you. It has been such an honor to do all of this together, and I hope we get to keep doing more together," Stone said.

She thanked "Poor Things" director Yorgos Lanthimos for "the gift of a lifetime in Bella Baxter," her character in his fantastical, absurdist take on Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein."

With Lily's Gladstone's loss, 'Killers of the Flower Moon' shut out at Oscars

Filmed in and around Osage County in 2021, Martin Scorsese's sweeping historical drama "Killers of the Flower Moon" was nominated for 10 Oscars, including best picture, best director for Scorsese and best actress for Gladstone.

As Christopher Nolan's atomic bomb biopic "Oppenheimer" dominated with seven wins, including best picture, "Killers of the Flower Moon" became Scorsese's third film — after 2019's “The Irishman” and 2002's “Gangs of New York” — to get 10 Academy Award nominations but not win a single Oscar.

Stone's win over Gladstone in the closely watched best actress contest was a particularly stinging loss: Gladstone would have been the first Native American actor to win a competitive Oscar. (In 2019, Cherokee actor and Oklahoma native Wes Studi won an honorary Oscar.)

Several Indigenous performers and writers — along with other critics and journalists — took to the social media site X (formerly Twitter) to express their disappointment as well as their support for Gladstone.

"Love you Lily. What you did was incredible. Who you are is incredible," posted Sierra Teller Ornelas, the Navajo co-creator and executive producer of the series 2021-2022 Peacock series "Rutherford Falls."

"This is my Bane origin story."

"Reservation Dogs" actor Dallas Goldtooth posted "We flipping tables" after Stone was announced the best actress winner.

"How do you say, 'robbed' in Blackfoot? Asking for a friend. Just kidding, I’m asking for myself," continued Goldtooth, who hails from the Dakota and Dine tribes of North Dakota.

"Natives getting robbed? Lily’s not shocked. Neither are the Osage. Isn’t that the whole premise of Killers?" posted Kelly Lynne D'Angelo, a Native Haudenosaunee writer whose credits include the TBS series "Miracle Workers."

She continued on X, "my heart is so broken. for the first time we were there. i refuse to let this just be a moment. we refuse. Hollywood, you are due for a reckoning. and you failed tonight. and you continue to fail us and the world at large. may you stop avoiding truth. without it, you are empty."

African American film journalist Kathia Woods posted that the Academy "literally hates minority women in the best actress category," pointing out the dismal track record of awarding the best actress Oscar to women of color.

"Everything Everywhere All at Once" star Michelle Yeoh last year became just the second woman of color to win best actress, after Halle Berry for 2002's "Monster's Ball."

Woods noted, "You have a higher chance of winning the lottery than if you are woc (woman of color) for Best actress. Let that sink in."

'Killers of the Flower Moon' sets Academy Awards records but fails to win any Oscars

Before any envelopes had been opened, "Killers of the Flower Moon" already had set at least seven Academy Awards records with its nominations.

Along with Gladstone's breakthrough best actress nod, the late Robbie Robertson, who died last August at the age of 80, became the first Indigenous Oscar nominee for best original score with his posthumous nomination for "Killers of the Flower Moon." The statuette went to "Oppenheimer's" Ludwig Göransson.

And Oklahoman Scott George became the first Indigenous nominee in the best original song category as well as the first member of the Osage Nation to be nominated for an Academy Award for his "Killers of the Flower Moon" anthem “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)."

George and the Osage Tribal Singers' performance of the song at the Oscars was praised an historic moment, even though the Oscar went to Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas O'Connell, for their "Barbie" ode "What Was I Made For?"

Along with becoming the first Native American nominated for the best actress Oscar, Gladstone was just the fourth Indigenous performer to be nominated in the category.

A British performer born in India, Merle Oberon, who is believed to have been of Māori and South Asian lineage, was nominated for best actress in 1935's “The Dark Angel." Born in Australia and raised in New Zealand, Maori performer Keisha Castle-Hughes broke out with her best actress-nominated turn in 2002's “Whale Rider.” And Indigenous Mexican schoolteacher-turned-actor Yalitza Aparicio earned her best actress nod for her film debut in 2018's “Roma."

Since none of them won, no Indigenous woman has won the best actress Oscar.

For her "Killers of the Flower Moon" performance, Gladstone did make cinematic history leading up to the Oscars: She was the first Indigenous performer to win the best film actress category at the SAG Awards and the first Indigenous person to win best actress in a drama at the Golden Globes.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Emma Stone wins best actress at Oscars, beating out Lily Gladstone