Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Michael B. Jordan paid tribute to the Black actors who “came before him” as he picked up the Best Actor prize at Sunday’s (15.03.26) Academy Awards.
The 39-year-old actor scooped the accolade for his work on Sinners and began his acceptance speech for the award – for which Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme), Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another), Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon), and Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent) were also nominated –
by praising the support of his family.
Speaking on stage at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre, he said: “God is good, and erm, yo, mama, what’s up? My father’s here, Pops, where you at?
“My dad flew over from Ghana to be here. My brother, my sister’s here. My family.
“I wanna thank Warner Bros for believing this dream and vision of Ryan Coogler, and betting on the culture, betting on original ideas and original idras.
“[Ryan] you are an amazing person and I’m so honoured to to call you a collaborator and a friend and a give me an opportunity and space for me to be seen. I love you too, bro.”
After thanking his “incredible” costars, Michael gave a shout out to the five other Black actors who have previously won Best Actor, Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Jamie Foxx, and Will Smith.
He said: “I stand here because of the people who came before me and to be amongst those giants, those greats, my guys…
“I want to thank everybody in this room and everybody at home for supporting my career. I know you guys want me to do well and and I wanna do that because you guys bet on me.
“So thank you for keeping on betting on me. I’m gonna keep stepping up and keep being the best version of myself I can be, so thank you to everybody in this room that had something to do with my success, I love you guys.
“Everybody at home who supported the movie and went to see it once, twice, three times, thank you, because you guys made this movie what it is. I love you.”
