The Brenaissance is complete – Brendan Fraser has won the Best Actor award at the 2023 Oscars.
Last night’s 2023 Oscars marked quite the successful return to acting for Brendan Fraser, who slowly withdrew from the limelight in the early noughties before making his return with his role in The Whale. – In the new movie, Fraser plays a morbidly obese teacher who is desperate to reconnect with his teenage daughter.
Directed by Darren Aronofsky, the movie has already seen huge successes for the 54 year-old actor, who won best actor at both the Screen Actors Guild and Critics’ Choice awards, with actor nominations for the Baftas and Golden Globes.
In an emotional acceptance speech, he took to the stage exclaiming “So this is what the multiverse looks like!”
He then shared his gratitude to the Academy, A24, director Aronofsky and others involved in the film, thanking them for their ‘whale-sized hearts’.
“I started in this business 30 years ago,” he said. “Things didn’t come easily to me but there was a facility I didn’t appreciate at the time until it stopped.”
He finished by thanking his three sons and his “first mate”, partner Jeanne Moore.
Ahead of the ceremony, Fraser had been the bookmakers’ favourite, however, his win didn’t come without some controversies.
Other nominees including Austin Butler for Elvis, Colin Farrell for The Banshees of Inisherin, Paul Mescal for Aftersun, and Bill Nighy in Living, with many fans thinking Butler for his role of Elvis was wrongfully beat out.
Nethertheless, Fraser and The Whale fans were still overjoyed with his successes, and took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the evening.
”Brendan Fraser deserves this so much he’s given me so much joy throughout my whole childhood and it was time he was recognized by his amazing talent i’m so happy for him,” one fan wrote.
Another said ”The fact that Brendan Fraser won Actor in a Leading Role for his moving performance in The Whale makes me so darn happy. Was rooting for him and he did it. As a fan of The Mummy franchise, Ink Heart and also as a fan of his, he deserves this win!”
The Oscars took place on Sunday night (12 March) at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, and saw huge successes across the board.
You can see the full list of nominees and winners here.
