Adrien Brody is walking away with the coveted Best Actor trophy.
The star, 51, took home the award for his role as László Tóth in “The Brutalist” at the 2025 Oscars on Sunday night. He beat out Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”), Timothée Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown”), Sebastian Stan (“The Apprentice”) and Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing”).
“Winning an award like this signifies a destination and something my character references in the film. But to me, it also, beyond the pinnacle of a career, it is a chance to begin again and the opportunity to hopefully be fortunate enough so that the next 20 years of my life, I can prove that I am worthy of such meaningful, important and relevant roles,” Brody said in part.
He then shared the award with his fellow nominees.
Brody also gave his “amazing” partner, Georgina Chapman, and her “beautiful” children she has with her ex-husband, incarcerated Harvey Weinstein, a loving shout-out.
“I know it’s been a roller coaster,” he said to the kids. “Thank you for accepting me into your life.”
When the music played for him to wrap up his speech, Brody refused to leave the stage.
“This is not my first rodeo,” the star said as he continued to talk, urging Hollywood’s elite to make room in their heart for acceptance.
In the historical drama, Brody plays an architect who escapes postwar Europe and comes to America to rebuild his life.
Brody was on a hot streak during this year’s award season, taking home the coveted trophy at the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs and the Critics Choice Awards over the past few months. His winning the Oscar wasn’t necessarily a given, as Chalamet took home the Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal as Bob Dylan just one week earlier.
In his Critics’ speech in February, he reflected on his career and his other half.
“I’ve been doing this since I was 12 and I know very clearly that these moments are far and few between in an actor’s life. I do not take this for granted,” the actor began. “I want to shout out my crew and amazing cast for all their amazing contributions to this, I couldn’t be here without you, and to my team for supporting me and guiding me and A24 for believing in this movie and of course to my beautiful girlfriend, Georgina, and my parents, thank you. I would not be here without you. God bless everyone, I love you. Thank you.”
Brody pulled inspiration for his role from his own upbringing after his grandparents and mother immigrated from Hungary.
“I’m the son of a Hungarian immigrant,” he explained while on the “Q With Tom Power” show. “My mother is Sylvia Plachy, who’s a quite esteemed New York photographer. An artist, and she fled Hungary with her parents, my grandparents, in 1956 during the Hungarian Revolution and she immigrated to New York. And so, I grew up with great understanding of her journey as an artist and assimilation into this great country.”
Reflecting on his childhood, Brody added: “You know, I grew up in Queens, which is a city built by immigrants and filled with most of the people that work to keep New York intact and alive and so I think all of that s very personal to me to be bale to speak to that and share that and represent that.”
“It’s taken me two decades to find something of this magnitude, of this complexity, of this level of space for a character for me to inhabit,” he confessed about playing Tóth.
“I think the beauty of this is it’s a reminder for us to have a bit more grace and respect for the plight of others that we are so fortunate to not endure ourselves. Which is very easy to be blind to because it’s not your problem, but it is a current struggle and people are yearning for respect to not be ostracized or treated like outsiders,” Brody said about the film’s meaning.
“Especially all the great contributions of immigrants to this nation and to the world by bringing their hopes and dreams and artistic depth.”
This is Brody’s second golden statue. He first won a Best Actor Oscar for his role in “The Pianist” at the 75th Academy Awards in 2003.
His win still remains one of the most memorable Oscars moment in history, as he spontaneously swept presenter Halle Berry into a passionate kiss — before reenacting the passionate kiss at the 97th annual Academy Awards on Sunday.
“We live in a very conscious time, which is a wonderful thing,” Brody told Variety in February of their embrace, which was received with mixed reactions. “And nothing that I ever do or have done or would’ve done is ever done with the intention of making anyone feel bad.”
In 2017, Berry commented on Brody’s actions, chalking it up to him getting overwhelmed after hearing his name being called out as the winner.
“I was like, ‘What the fuck is happening right now?’ That is what was going through my mind,” she said on “Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen” in 2017. “Because I was there the year before and I know the feeling of being out of your body, I just f–king went with it.”
Berry, 58, had presented the award because one year prior, in 2002, she took home the Best Actress Oscar for her role in “Monster’s Ball.”
Brody still holds the record for being the youngest person to take home the Best Actor win, as he was 29 when he won for “The Pianist.” Chalamet — who is 29 — is the youngest best actor winner in SAG history and is the youngest two-time Best Actor Oscar nominee since James Dean.
