The Brenaissance is complete.
Brendan Fraser completed an incredible career comeback as he went away with the Best Actor award at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony.
The 54-year-old won the award for his role in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale. He defeated some big-name contenders including Paul Mescal for Aftersun and The Banshees of Inisherin’s Colin Farrell.
Fraser has already had an incredibly successful run this awards season, picking up Screen Actors Guild and Critics’ Choice awards. He also received best actor nominations at the Baftas and Golden Globes.
An emotional Fraser began his speech with “So this is what the multiverse looks like!”
“I’m grateful for Darren Aronofsky for throwing me a creative lifeline and hauling me aboard the good ship The Whale, which was written by Samuel D. Hunter, who is our lighthouse.”
Brendan Fraser accepts the #Oscar for Best Actor for #TheWhale. https://t.co/ndiKiHfmID pic.twitter.com/kNuDy85dpH
— Variety (@Variety) March 13, 2023
He also paid tribute to the other candidates for this year’s Best Actor, which also included Bill Nighy and Austin Butler.
“Gentlemen, you laid your whale-sized hearts bare so we could see into your souls like no one else could do,” Fraser said.
“It is my honour to be named alongside you in this category.”
“Only whales can swim at the depth of the talent of Hong Chau,” he said of his co-star in The Whale.
“I started in this business thirty years ago and things didn’t come easy to me but there was a facility that I didn’t appreciate at the time until it stopped. And I just want to say thank you for this acknowledgement because it couldn’t be done without my cast.”
He went on to thank his sons Leland, Holden and Griffin and his “best first mate”, partner Jean Moore.
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