Academy Awards 2019: Olivia Colman reigns supreme with beautifully British speech
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- Kayleigh Dray
- Published
The Best Actress winner is the absolute definition of women supporting other women
God save our gracious Olivia Colman, who has been named Best Actress at the 91st Academy Awards.
Colman, who will soon be appearing on Netflix as Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown, was handed the Oscar for her delightfully sweary stint as Queen Anne in The Favourite.
However, Colman did not drop any cursewords when she stepped up to collect her golden statuette. Instead, she decided to deliver the most beautiful and quintessentially British speech of all time ever.
“This is genuinely quite stressful,” she said, gazing at her award in wide-eyed amazement. “This is hilarious. I got an Oscar!”
Growing more serious as she contemplated her audience, Colman went on to thank her director, Yorgos Lanthimos, as well as co-stars Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz.
“I’d like to thank lots of people and if I forget anyone I will find you later and give you a massive snog,” she said, before stressing that “Emily and Rachel are the two loveliest women in the world to fall in love with and to work with every day… you can imagine it wasn’t a hardship filming those scenes.”
Somewhat hilariously, Colman then turned her attention to fellow Best Actress nominee Glenn Close. “You have been my idol for so long,” Colman said of The Wife star, who has been nominated for eight Oscars throughout her career and never won a single one. “This not how I wanted it to be.”
Olivia Colman at the 91st Academy Awards
“To my mum and my dad, well you know,” continued a teary Colman. She thanked her kids, and then gave a special shout out to young actors who may be watching.
“To any little girl who’s practicing her speech on the tele, you never know!” she said, before revealing that she used to work as a cleaner.
Realising that she was out of time, Colman emotionally rushed through a final thank-you to her “biggest supporter” - otherwise known as Ed, her husband of 25 years.
Pointing out that “he’s about to cry” to everyone watching along at home, Colman added cheekily: “I’m not!”
This is the first Oscar nomination and win for Colman. The actress beat out Yalitza Aparicio for Roma, Glenn Close for The Wife, Lady Gaga for A Star is Born and Melissa McCarthy for Can You Ever Forgive Me?.
Image: Getty