Tears streamed down Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s face as she accepted her first Oscar, followed by a poignant speech about her journey to realizing her worth as an actor.
“I always wanted to be different. Now I realize I just need to be myself,” said Randolph, who won the best supporting actress statuette Sunday for her role as Mary Lamb in Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers.”
She concluded with a heartfelt shoutout to the women who had helped her through her career, and to her publicist.
“I pray to God,” she continued. “I get to do this more than once.”
Randolph portrayed a New England boarding school cafeteria manager navigating grief and loss. Her wins extended across the awards season, with victories at prestigious events like the Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA, and Golden Globes.
“I don’t think I was supposed to be doing this for my career,” said Randolph, who is a trained opera singer but had no dreams of being an actor growing up. Her mother convinced her to take an acting class.
“My mother said to me, ‘Go across that street to that theater department. There’s something for you there,’ and I thank my mother for doing that,” Randolph recalled. “I thank you to all the people who have stepped in my path and ushered me and guided me. I’m so grateful to all you beautiful people out there.”
Randolph spoke more backstage about the importance of people color being able to perform well in any role.
Randolph’s tears began to flow as she sat in her seat, deeply moved by Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o’s tribute to her performance in “The Holdovers.”
Nyong’o praised Randolph’s stellar portrayal, highlighting her poignant performance while wearing her grandmother’s glasses in the film.
“What an honor to see the world through her eyes and yours,” Nyong’o said.
In addition to her grandmother’s glasses, Randolph revealed that she incorporated other accessories in the film as a “love letter to Black women.”
“I knew this would be a difficult role to take on. It was going to require a lot of vulnerability from me,” she said.
“I knew (my grandmother) was someone in my life that would allow me to get back to my center. But it was many other women. I did a lot of research and did a little subliminal messages with hairdos, details and accessories.
Beyond the glasses, the homage to women from ‘The Jeffersons’ I included all these women who left an impression on me.”
Randolph’s illustrious career includes a Tony Award nomination in 2012 for “Ghost The Musical,” as well as memorable film roles in “Dolemite Is My Name” and “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.”
She has also graced the small screen with appearances in “Empire” and “Only Murders in the Building.”
In her remarkable win, Randolph won over esteemed nominees such as Emily Blunt for “Oppenheimer,” Danielle Brooks in “The Color Purple,” America Ferrera for “Barbie,” and Jodie Foster from “Nyad.”