Just a few years after her breakout, scene-stealing role in Dolemite Is My Name – and following more recent excellent turns, including High Fidelity and Only Murders in the Building – Da'Vine Joy Randolph can now call herself an Oscar winner. On Sunday, she took home best supporting actress for her stirring performance in The Holdovers. Co-star Paul Giamatti escorted her to the stage.
"For so long, I've always wanted to be different. And now I realize I just need to be myself. And I thank you for seeing me," she said while accepting the award at Sunday's ceremony.
Her thank-you's included a special (and, these days, unorthodox) shoutout to her publicist.
Randolph has been on a hot streak this awards season, garnering accolades from BAFTA, the Screen Actors Guild, the National Board of Review, and many critics' circles.
In director Alexander Payne's period dramedy, she plays Mary Lamb, a cafeteria manager at a New England boarding school mourning the loss of her son, who has died fighting in Vietnam. Over the winter break, she forms a bond with the other "holdovers" who have stayed behind on campus, crotchety classics professor Paul Hunham (Giamatti) and troubled student Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa).
The film manages to balance sentimentality with sharp wit, and Mary arguably functions as the movie's heart—a multifaceted figure who's more than just a grieving mother.
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