2023 OSCARS WINS! EPIC NIGHT OF FIRSTS FOR WINNERS

By Suzanne Joe Kai and Martha Shaw

Hollywood

March 12, 2023

Everything Everywhere All at Once wins Best Picture! 

Nominated for an astounding 11 awards and taking home 7 that night, this film and its historic implications are epic. 

Michelle Yeoh is the first Asian actress to win the Best Actress award for her role in the most nominated film "Everything, Everywhere All At Once." 

A film industry veteran, Yeoh, 60, received great praise for her role and during her acceptance speech she called the moment "history in the making - This is proof to dream big, that dreams do come true." 

“I hope I did right by you. I care deeply about every one of you” says Paul Rogers during the acceptance of his Best Film Editing Award. “I know I’m standing up here by myself, but I am not, I am hundreds of people. I’m hundreds of people… "We just won an Oscar” Jamie Lee Curtis exclaims in gratitude for her Best Supporting Actress Oscar to the community who made these wins possible. 

“This. This! Is the American dream!” Ke Huy Quan’s powerful words accepting his Best Supporting Actor award resonate with anyone with a dream, and especially immigrants and minorities around the world. “My Mom is 84 years old, and she’s at home watching. Mom! I just won an Oscar!”. Unable to contain his emotions, Quan begins his tearful acceptance speech. “My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp. But somehow, I ended up here, on Hollywood’s biggest stage.” We know the weight and true meaning of his words when Quan pauses to say “Thank you to my Mom. For the sacrifices she made to get me here.”                                                

Directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert won the 95^th Oscar's Best Director award for the beloved “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and during the acceptance speech for the 95th Academy Best Picture Award says “We are all products of our context. We are all descendants of something and someone. And I want to acknowledge my context.”

Kwan gives a moving speech in honor of his personal and cultural heritage. “My immigrant parents, my father, who fell in love with movies…” “my mother who was a creative soul who wanted to be an actor, dancer, singer, but could not afford the luxury of that life path and then gave it to me”, Kwan goes on to highlight the privilege of those of us working in this industry, and the impact breaking into the limelight with a story like this has on the world. “There is greatness in every single person, doesn’t matter who they are. You have a genius that is waiting to erupt, you just have to find the right people to unlock that.” 

Paul Rogers during his acceptance for his Best Film Editing Award “I hope I did right by you. I care deeply about every one of you." “I know I’m standing up here by myself, but I am not, I am hundreds of people. I’m hundreds of people… "

"We just won an Oscar!” Jamie Lee Curtis exclaims in gratitude for her Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

In a red-carpet interview, Academy President Janet Yang, who became the Academy's first Asian American president and only the fourth woman president in the Academy's history comments, “I think this is the harbinger of the future, this is what we’ve always wanted. We are a global film community.”