Canada Had A Big Night At The 2023 Oscars & Here Are The Canadians Who Won
Canada's got talent! ⭐️
Brendan Fraser at the 2023 Oscars. Right: Director Daniel Roher accepting an award at the Oscars.
The 2023 Oscars took place over the weekend and it seems like Canadians left their mark on the 95th Academy Awards.
Several Canucks walked away with Oscars, including some first-time winners, while others were nominated in major categories.
One highlight of the Oscars was when Toronto-born filmmaker Sarah Polley won her first Academy Award for the film Women Talking.
The drama — which is based on a book of the same name, released in 2018 by Canadian author Miriam Toews — follows the women of an isolated religious community who "grapple with reconciling a brutal reality with their faith."
The film won Polley the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, with many fellow Canadians celebrating the win.
"I want to thank the Academy for not being mortally offended by the words 'women' and 'talking' put so close together like that," Polley herself said in her acceptance speech.
The film also received a nomination for best picture, but ultimately lost to the A24 drama Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Polley was not the only Toronto filmmaker to take home an award on Sunday, documentary director Daniel Roher was recognized with the Best Documentary award for his film Navalny.
The documentary follows Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was poisoned with a lethal nerve agent in August 2020.
In his acceptance speech, Roher dedicated his win to Navalny and "to all political prisoners around the world."
"Alexei, the world has not forgotten your vital message to us all: we cannot, we must not be afraid to oppose dictators and authoritarianism wherever it rears its head," he said.
Other noteworthy Canadian nominees included Turning Red, which was nominated for Best Animated Feature, but ultimately lost to Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, and Canadian-U.S. documentary film Fire of Love, which was nominated for Best Documentary.
Who won 'Best Actor' at the 2023 Oscars?
One of the biggest wins of the night went to Brendan Fraser, who took home the award for Best Actor for his role in Darren Aronofsky's drama The Whale.
The film follows Fraser's character, a "reclusive, morbidly obese English teacher" who attempts to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Fraser beat fellow Best Actor nominees Austin Butler (Elvis), Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin), Paul Mescal (Aftersun), and Bill Nighy (Living), but shouted out the actors in his acceptance speech.
"Gentlemen, you laid your whale-sized hearts to bare so we could see into your souls like no one else could do," he said. "It is my honor to be named alongside you in this category."
According to CTV, Montreal-born makeup artist Adrien Morot was part of the team recognized at the Oscars for helping to transform Fraser into his 600+-pound character for the film.
Morot won for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, alongside makeup artist Judy Chin and hairstylist Annemarie Bradley.
