Cillian Murphy Nabs Best Actor at the Academy Awards & Delivers Powerful Speech

In 2021, it was Will Smith for King Richard. Then, it was Brendan Fraser for The Whale. And now, the Academy has crowned a brand-new winner.

Tonight, the 96th annual Oscars took place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. During the ceremony, Cillian Murphy took home the statuette for Best Actor for Oppenheimer.

He was up against a slew of worthy nominees, including Paul Giamatti for The Holdovers, Jeffrey Wright for American Fiction, Colman Domingo for Rustin and Bradley Cooper for Maestro.

Sarah Morris/WireImage

The Academy Award for Best Actor has been around since the Oscars debuted in 1929. Traditionally, the statuette is presented by last year’s Best Actress winner. Fraser won last year’s award and was up against Austin Butler for Elvis, Colin Farrell for The Banshees of Inisherin, Paul Mescal for Aftersun and Bill Nighy for Living.

Other previous winners include Anthony Hopkins for The Father, Rami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsody, Joaquin Phoenix for Joker, Gary Oldman for Darkest Hour, Casey Affleck for Manchester by the Sea, Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant, Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything, Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jean Dujardin for The Artist, Colin Firth for The King’s Speech, Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart, Sean Penn for Milk, Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood and Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland.

Cue the standing ovation.

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