Everything Everywhere All at Once star Ke Huy Quan is among the early winners at this year’s Oscars.
He won best supporting actor at the ceremony, which is taking place in Los Angeles, while his co-star Jamie Lee Curtis won best supporting actress.
Quan was catapulted back into the spotlight thanks to his role in the film, which could win best picture.
He told the audience: “Dreams are something you have to believe in – I almost gave up on mine.”
The 51-year-old took an extended break from acting after rising to fame as a child star in films such as The Goonies and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
In an emotional speech, the Vietnamese actor said: “They say stories like this only happen in the movies – I cannot believe it is happening to me. This is the American dream.
“My journey started on a boat, I spent a year in a refugee camp, and somehow I ended up here, on Hollywood’s biggest stage… Thank you so much for welcoming me back.”
Curtis’s supporting actress win marks her first Oscar in her 45-year acting career.
“I know it looks like I’m standing up here by myself but I am not, I am hundreds of people,” Curtis said in her acceptance speech.
“The entire group of artists who made this movie – we just won an Oscar.”
Everything Everywhere All at Once is a madcap sci-fi adventure which sees a laundrette owner, played by Michelle Yeoh, hop through the multiverse exploring different versions of herself.
Quan plays the husband of Yeoh’s character, while Curtis plays IRS inspector Deirdre Beaubeirdre who chases the family to pay their taxes.
The 95th Academy Awards are currently taking place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, with US comic Jimmy Kimmel hosting this year’s ceremony.
A string of Hollywood A-listers are in attendance, having walked the champagne-coloured carpet outside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
The Whale – which launched Brendan Fraser’s comeback – took best make-up and hairstyling, while Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio was named best animated feature.
Taking to the stage, the Mexican filmmaker said: “Animation is cinema, animation is not a genre and animation is ready to be taken to the next step.”
All Quiet on the Western Front scored best international feature and best cinematography, while An Irish Goodbye was named best live action short film.
Wakanda Forever’s Ruth Carter repeated the best costume design victory she scored with the original film. She dedicated the prize to her mother, who died aged 101 last week.
The award for best documentary feature film went to Navalny, about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the events related to his 2020 poisoning.
In his speech, director Daniel Roher dedicated the award to Navalny and political prisoners around the world, saying: “Alexei, the world has not forgotten your vital message to the world.”
Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, added: “Alexei, I am dreaming of the day you will be free and our country will be free, stay strong my love.”
Later in the ceremony, Everywhere All at Once is the favourite to win best picture after success on this year’s awards’ circuit.
But it faces competition from All Quiet on the Western Front and The Banshees of Inisherin, among others.
Austin Butler, Brendan Fraser, Cate Blanchett and Yeoh are the frontrunners in the leading actor and actress categories.
The 95th Academy Awards ceremony is being hosted by US chat show host Jimmy Kimmel, who opened with a monologue which reflected on the last 12 months in the film industry.
“They say Hollywood is running out of ideas. I mean Steven Spielberg had to make a movie about Steven Spielberg,” he joked, referring to the director’s autobiographical best picture nominee The Fabelmans.
He also paid tribute to composer John Williams, the oldest nominee in Oscars history. “John turned 91 last month, and he’s still scoring, if you know what I mean,” Kimmel quipped.
Reflecting on the mixed year Hollywood has had, Kimmel said: “Batgirl became the first superhero to be defeated by the accounting department.”
The US comic also made reference to Avatar: The Way of Water, which he said was “another opportunity for James Cameron to do what he loves doing more than anything else – drowning Kate Winslet” (the actress also appeared in Cameron’s Titanic).
Stars shine on Oscars champagne carpet
“It was a big year for diversity and inclusion,” Kimmel continued, “we have nominees from every corner of Dublin.” The Banshees of Inisherin has four acting nominations, including Colin Farrell and Kerry Condon.
“Five Irish actors are nominated tonight which means the odds of another fight on stage just went way up.”
Later in the ceremony, Kimmel brought Jenny, the donkey who appears in the film, on stage. Her co-star Colin Farrell put his hand on his heart from the audience, while the audience cheered.
Finally – Kimmel referenced the event that overshadowed last year’s ceremony – Will Smith slapping Chris Rock.
“If anyone here commits an act of violence during the show, you will be awarded best actor, and permitted to give a 19-minute speech,” Kimmel said, to much laughter.
This is the chat show host’s third time hosting the Academy Awards. He most recently presided over the 2018 event.
Viewers in the US can watch the Oscars live on ABC. The network is also streaming the ceremony on its website and app.
In the UK, Sky will air the ceremony across four of its channels simultaneously – Sky Arts, Sky News, Sky Showcase and Sky Cinema Oscars.
Unusually, that means British viewers can watch the Oscars on Freeview and Freesat. It is also available on streaming service Now (formerly Now TV).
Traditionally, the four acting winners from the previous year’s Oscars come back to present the prizes to their successors.
This year, three of 2022’s winners are returning – Jessica Chastain, Ariana DeBose and Troy Kotsur – but the fourth, Will Smith, is absent as he’s been banned for attending the Oscars for 10 years.
Other stars presenting categories this year include Harrison Ford, Nicole Kidman, Samuel L Jackson, Dwayne Johnson, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, John Travolta, Emily Blunt, Jennifer Connelly and Florence Pugh.
Interestingly, Halle Berry has also been invited to present. She remains the only woman of colour to win best leading actress at the Oscars, but we could see the second this year with Yeoh.
Other category presenters include Paul Dano, Andrew Garfield, Cara Delevingne, Kate Hudson, Michael B Jordan, Jonathan Majors, Mindy Kaling, Eva Longoria, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Andie MacDowell and Riz Ahmed.
They will be joined by Antonio Banderas, Elizabeth Banks, Hugh Grant, Salma Hayek Pinault, Melissa McCarthy, Halle Bailey, Janelle Monáe, Questlove, Elizabeth Olsen and Pedro Pascal.
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