Brendan Fraser won the Best Actor award at the 2023 Oscars for his role in “The Whale,” presented by Jessica Chastain and Halle Berry.
“I started in this business 30 years ago and things didn’t come easily to me,” he said in his speech on stage at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
“I wanted to say thank you for this acknowledgment because it couldn’t be done without my cast.”
Fraser came out on top of what was widely considered to be a neck-and-neck race, with Austin Butler (“Elvis”) and Colin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin“) also considered to be front-runners. Paul Mescal (“Aftersun“) and Bill Nighy (“Living“) were also nominated in the category, which was a group fully comprised of first-time nominees.
This awards season has seen a mixture of outcomes when it comes to Best Actor nods, with the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and the Golden Globes awarding Butler, while the Critics Choice and SAG Awards going with Fraser. It seemed that those two were the clear front-runners, but Farrell was added to the conversation when Variety reported that members were voting for him.
Fraser is the first to win Best Actor without a nomination in the Best Picture category since Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart” (2009).
“The Whale” follows a 600-pound English teacher named Charlie (Fraser) who suffers from morbid obesity and is struggling to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter, played by “Stranger Things” star Sadie Sink.
Fraser donned a fat suit for the role, which sparked criticism from critics and claims of “fatphobia.”
The film marked Fraser’s career comeback in Hollywood after stepping away due to depression. His performance received several standing ovations at film festivals, including in Venice, London and Toronto.
Last year, Will Smith won the Oscar for Best Actor just moments after he slapped presenter Chris Rock onstage. The incident got Smith banned from appearing at the Oscars ceremony for 10 years.