Da’Vine Joy Randolph has won the Academy Award for best supporting actress.
Randolph took home the Oscar on Sunday for her role as a boarding school head cook who is grieving her son.
“The Holdovers,” set in the 1970s, features an eclectic cast of clashing personalities who have, for one reason or another, stayed over Christmas break at the mostly empty boarding school, where they learn about kinship and community.
Randolph plays Mary Lamb, the school cafeteria manager, who recently lost her son during the Vietnam War, alongside Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham, a disagreeable and unpopular teacher, and Dominic Sessa, who plays angsty but talented student Angus Tully.
Randolph had already received numerous accolades for her role in “The Holdovers,” including a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, a Critics Choice Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her work in the movie.
At the Academy Awards, Randolph was up against Emily Blunt in “Oppenheimer,” Danielle Brooks in “The Color Purple,” America Ferrera in “Barbie” and Jodie Foster in “Nyad.”
In addition to her grounded role in “The Holdovers,” Randolph also appeared as music legend Mahalia Jackson in the film “Rustin,” for which star Colman Domingo was nominated for best actor.
Randolph joins the ranks of fewer than a dozen Black women who have earned the best supporting actress distinction in the Academy Awards’ 96-year history.
She first received widespread recognition for her role as Oda Mae Brown in the 2012 theatrical production of “Ghost,” adapted from the 1990 film starring Whoopi Goldberg (who won the Oscar for best supporting actress for her portrayal of the same character).
