The 2023 Academy Awards made history with some groundbreaking firsts and major career milestones.
– Best actress
Michelle Yeoh is the first person from an Asian background to be named best actress.
She is also only the second non-white performer ever to win the award.
The first was more than 20 years ago in 2002, when it went to Halle Berry for the film Monster’s Ball.
Berry was on stage this year to help present the award to Yeoh.
Of the five people in the running for best actress, all were white except Michelle Yeoh, who was nominated for the offbeat comedy drama Everything Everywhere All at Once.
– Best director
Yeoh’s success was one of a number of wins for Everything Everywhere All at Once, which saw the film end the night with seven awards.
Another win came in the category for best director, which went to Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.
It is only the third time in the history of the Oscars that this award has gone to a pair of directors.
The other two occasions were in 1962, when Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins won for West Side Story, and in 2008, when Joel and Ethan Coen took the award for No Country For Old Men.
– Best supporting actor
Everything Everywhere All at Once also helped make history in the category for best supporting actor, with Ke Huy Quan becoming the first person from an Asian background to win the award.
Four of the 10 most recent winners of this award have come from a non-white background: Mahershala Ali in 2017 (Moonlight) and again in 2019 (Green Book), followed by Daniel Kaluuya in 2021 (Judas & the Black Messiah) and Ke Huy Quan this year.
– Best costume design
Ruth Carter made history in 2019 when she became the first black woman to win the award for best costume design, for her work on the first Black Panther film.
Her success in the category this year, for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, means she has made history again and become the only black woman to win the award twice.
– Multiple wins
It is the first time in nearly 50 years that the same film has been responsible for three of the four acting awards.
Everything Everywhere All at Once pulled off a hat trick of best actress (Michelle Yeoh), best supporting actor (Ke Huy Quan) and best supporting actress (Jamie Lee Curtis).
The last time this happened was in 1977, when Network scooped best actor (Peter Finch), best actress (Faye Dunaway) and best supporting actress (Beatrice Straight).
