Paul Giamatti moved to tears at Oscars by co-star Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s powerful acceptance speech

Randolph took home the Best Supporting Actress trophy for her work alongside Giamatti in ‘The Holdovers’

Paul Giamatti was reduced to tears by Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s acceptance speech at the 2024 Oscars.

The actor, who appeared alongside Randolph in the boarding school-set drama The Holdovers, was seen growing visibly emotional as his co-star accepted the prize for Best Supporting Actress.

Randolph won the award for her role in the film as a grieving mother, while Giamatti was nominated for Best Actor for playing a curmudgeonly professor.

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The award was presented by five previous winners in the category, with each actor paying tribute to a different nominee. Randolph was competing against Barbie’s America Ferrera, Nyad’s Jodie Foster, Oppenheimer’s Emily Blunt, and The Color Purple’s Danielle Brooks.

Introducing Randolph, 12 Years a Slave Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o paid tribute to the Holdovers star. “Your performance is…also in tribute to your grandmother whose glasses you wore in the film,” she said. “What an honour to see the world through her eyes, and yours.”

At this point, Randolph could be seen welling up. When her name was announced as the winner of the award, she was assisted to the stage by Giamatti.

Paul Giamatti sheds a tear over Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s acceptance speech at the Oscars (ABC)

Fighting back tears to deliver her acceptance speech, the 37-year-old actor said: “For so long I have always wanted to be different. And I now I realise I just needed to be myself, and I thank you for seeing me.

“I didn’t think I was supposed to be doing this as a career, I started off as a singer, and my mother said to me, go across that street to that theatre department, there’s something for you there. And I thank my mother for doing that, I thank all those people who have been there for me, ushered and guided me, I am so grateful to you beautiful people out there.”

As the camera cut back to the audience at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, Giamatti could also be seen crying.

Going up against Giamatti in the Best Actor race this year was Cillian Murphy, nominated for his role in Christopher Nolan’s biopic Oppenheimer.

Ahead of the ceremony, Oppenheimer was the favourite to take home Best Picture, and was up against films such as Poor Things, Killers of the Flower Moon, Barbie, Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest.

In the opening monologue, host Jimmy Kimmel appeared to annoy Best Supporting Actor nominee Robert Downey Jr after making a joke about his history of substance abuse.

Downey was awarded Best Supporting Actor for his role in Oppenheimer, and appeared to make make a dig at his work with Marvel in his acceptance speech.

Ryan Gosling, meanwhile, performed a live rendition of “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie to a hugely enthusiastic reception.