Jamie Lee Curtis Celebrates Her Parents' Legacy in Oscars Speech
The 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' actress received her first-ever Oscar win after nearly 50 years acting.
After an acting career spanning over 40 years, Jamie Lee Curtis finally won an Academy Award at the 2023 Oscars.
She won Best Supporting Actress for her role as IRS inspector Deidre Beaubeirdre in Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Curtis, who was shocked to have won, was emotional when she took the stage to accept the award.
Her speech was brief but heartfelt, noting, "Stop! I have 45 seconds and I promised Janet Yang I would do it well because I'm a good girl. I know it looks like I'm standing up here by myself, but I am not. I am hundreds of people. Where are the Daniels? [Directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Schneinert], Jonathan [Wang], Ley Line, the entire crew, my bae Michelle [Yeoh], Ke [Huy Quan], the entire group of artists who made this movie—we just won an Oscar."
She went on to thank her "dream team," Rick Kurtzman, Alan Werthheimer, Heidi Schaeffer, Sean James, Grace Ahn, and Jane Ross.
Of course, Curtis took a moment to thank her loved ones. "To my family, to my beautiful husband Christopher Guest," she added. "Our daughters, Annie and Ruby, my sister Kelly. We just won an Oscar."
Curtis wrapped her speech with a special tribute to her A-list parents, stating, "And my mother and my father were both nominated for Oscars in different categories. I just won an Oscar!"
Both of Curtis' late parents, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, were nominated for Oscars in their lifetime but did not win. This makes Curtis the first in her Hollywood superstar family to take home the coveted award.
The actress had previously expressed her surprise at being nominated for her first Oscar in an interview with Vanity Fair.
"Having my name called that morning was a total shock," she said, about the day she found out she was up for an Academy Award. "I know people would say, 'Oh, come on Jamie, you knew.' I chose not to read lists. I didn't want to be told. I told all my friends, 'Please don't send them to me because it's going to hurt too much.' I understood that it existed."
She continued, "I knew that the movie would [be nominated], I knew that Ke would, I knew that Stephanie would, I knew that Michelle would. I knew that the Daniels would, but I did not know for me."