Da'Vine Joy Randolph wins best supporting actress Oscar: 'God is so good'
Da'Vine Joy Randolph was indeed full of well, joy, after winning best supporting actress at this year's Academy Awards for her role as Mary Lamb in "The Holdovers."
"God is so good," she said as she claimed the first trophy of the night in a regal, ruffle-sleeved bright blue gown. "God is so good," she repeated.
The Oscar caps off Randolph's awards season sweep; she's won almost every award imaginable for this role including a Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA, Critics Choice and more.
But she "didn't think I was supposed to be doing this as a career," she went on in her speech. "I started off as a singer. And 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."
She also seemed to thank an early teacher of hers: "When I was the only Black girl in that class, when you saw me, and you told me I was enough. And when I told you, 'I don't see myself.' You said 'that's fine. We're going to forge our own path. You're going to lay a trail for yourself.'"
Randolph earned some laughs when thanking her publicist: "And I know y'all said don't say nothing about no publicist, but you don't have a publicist like I have a publicist. You have been by my side through the entire thing. And I am forever grateful."
Randolph added that she prayed she will "get to do this more than once," too.
The best takeaway from her speech, though? Her emphasis on saying goodbye to self-doubt. "For so long, I've always wanted to be different," she said. "And now I realize I just need to be myself. And I thank you. I thank you for seeing me."
The speech echoes what she told USA TODAY earlier this awards season: "I feel like I'm just getting started. One of the beauties of 'The Holdovers' is that if nothing else – the accolades are wonderful ? but I hope this now allows me to hit a new ceiling of quality when it comes to projects. That's the dream."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Da'Vine Joy Randolph wins Oscar for best supporting actress