The best acceptance moments make or break careers, cement fandoms, and spark blind items.
And the Winner Is…
Appreciating the art of a great Hollywood acceptance speech.
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The entire room was holding its collective breath whenOlivia Colmanbeat odds-favoriteGlenn Closeto the Best Actress Oscar in 2019.
In the face of such upset, what would Colman say?
Some of the best read like blind items forming live on our TV screens.
Like any unforgettable speech giver, she managed to meet the high-stakes moment in which she found herself.
31 and 23 on this list).
(Although everyone loves a scorched-earth speech see No.
14 on this list).
And remember, this ranking is aboutspeeches, not bits.
Winona Ryder mugging behindDavid Harbours SAG Ensemble speechforStranger Things?
Good meme, beautiful meme, but you wont see Harbours acceptance moment celebrated here.
50.Patti LuPone, 62nd Tony Awards (2008)
50.
Its recipients are accustomed to not only the spotlight but commanding a theater of people eight times a week.
But as one of Broadways grand dames, naturally she still comes off as earnest and heartfelt doing it.
Its been 29 years!
49.Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, 70th Academy Awards (1998)
49.
Their hometown is everything!
Afflecks voice eventually cracks and the effusion comes to a halt.
They really were just two young guys!
48.Ving Rhames, 55th Golden Globe Awards (1998)
48.
The entire moment is a generosity battle between two unyielding mensches.
Lemmon is in a daze as he takes thelongroute to the stage.
47.Susan Lucci, 26th Daytime Emmy Awards (1999)
47.
But Lucci went on to deliver a speech worthy of soap opera history, too.
46.Lin-Manuel Miranda, 62nd Tony Awards (2008)
46.
45.Patty Duke, 22nd Primetime Emmy Awards (1970)
45.
(No exclamation point.)
And even as it dips into the slightly bizarre, she never loses our attention.
44.Rue McClanahan, 39th Primetime Emmy Awards (1987)
44.
But he said it in a way that sounded like hed very much been holding onto some real grudges.
Hed have been better off accepting his Oscar by showing a video of Rue McClanahans speech from 1987.
After winning for her role onThe Golden Girls, McClanahan recalled her mothers advice that Every kicks a boost.
43.James Cameron, 70th Academy Awards (1998)
- his howls echoing through the Shrine Auditorium he was the triumphant auteur incarnate.
42.Sharon Stone, 53rd Golden Globe Awards (1996)
42.
We love candid self-awareness.
41.Steven Soderbergh, 73rd Academy Awards (2001)
41.
Most importantly, it eschews the laundry list of names that ceremony producers just cannot stand.
Heres to those who create!
40.Marion Cotillard, 80th Academy Awards (2008)
40.
You rocked my life!
39.Taraji P. Henson, 23rd Screen Actors Guild Awards (2017)
39.
38.Tiffany Haddish, 84th New York Film Critics Circle Awards, 2018
38.
Which means were clear to include this NYFCC award on our list.
37.James Hong, 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards (2023)
37.
36.Rita Moreno, 29th Tony Awards (1975)
36.
It was a not-so-subtle jab at the powers that be for putting her into a lesser category.
35.Tilda Swinton, 80th Academy Awards (2008)
35.
By that I mean, one curiously obsessed with anatomy.
Typically steelish and composed when speaking publicly, its oddly affecting to see Swinton with her guard down.
34.Denzel Washington, 74th Academy Awards (2002)
34.
Denzel Washington knew that Sidney Poitier would be in the audience when he accepted his Oscar.
Ill always be chasing you, Sidney, Washington said, beaming.
Ill always be following in your footsteps, sir.
Theres nothing I would rather do.
33.Ruth Gordon, 41st Academy Awards (1969)
33.
An Oscar, she hints, is simply the nicest pat on the back to emerging talent like her.
The riotous laughter and applause she garnered is proof the succinct bit landed perfectly.
32.Ingrid Bergman, 47th Academy Awards (1975)
32.
In fact, it should be mandatory for all repeat winners, like an AMPAS pledge of allegiance.
(See also: costume designer Sandy Powells Ive already got two of these.)
31.Joe Pesci, 63rd Academy Awards (1991)
31.
It was poetry that acknowledged his appreciation of his industry and his peers without skimping on the showmanship.
Brief but full-bodied, like a shot of bourbon.
30.Sutton Foster, 65th Tony Awards (2011)
- to pursue his dream as an artist on Cape Cod.
29.Robin Williams, Eighth Critics Choice Awards (2003)
29.
Best Actor,One Hour Photo
How does a loser give the most memorable speech of an awards ceremony?
He just has to be Robin Williams.
In the early days of the Critics Choice Awards, categories only held three nominees.
28.Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 65th Primetime Emmy Awards (2013)
28.
For when they fail, they fail miserably.
As the series went on, that convergence felt permanent.
27.Jack Nicholson, 56th Golden Globe Awards (1999)
27.
The 1999 version of Nicholson was more demure, but only by a degree.
This is old-school Hollywood at its finest, and most unfiltered.
And in feeling free to tell his ribald tales, Nicholson manages to be his most sincere.
26.Renee Zellweger, 92nd Academy Awards (2020)
26.
Neil Armstrong gives way to Dolores Huerta and Venus, Serena, and Selena.
India, disillusionment, silence.
The dreams we used to say, the house we spent away.
Ever the class act, Zellweger finds her point again, making the whole thing positively Garlandian.
25.Fred Rogers, 24th Daytime Emmy Awards (1997)
25.
Lifetime Achievement Award
What makes a tear-jerker speech worthy of accolades?
But theres low-hanging sentiment and then theres Mr. Rogers.
And wouldnt you know, he had Linda Dano weeping in the crowd.
24.Jane Fonda, 44th Academy Awards (1972)
24.
There would continue to be a great deal to say, to say the least.
23.Merritt Wever, 65th Primetime Emmy Awards (2013)
23.
22.Meryl Streep, 74th Golden Globe Awards (2017)
22.
21.Ally Sheedy, 14th Independent Spirit Awards (1999)
21.
Best Actress,High Art
OHHH MYYY GODDDDD!
20.Kirstie Alley, 43rd Primetime Emmy Awards (1991)
20.
19.MoNique, 82nd Academy Awards (2010)
19.
But it was a gratifying crack to the system that MoNique could achieve what many of them could not.
18.Geena Davis, 63rd Golden Globe Awards (2006)
18.
17.Elaine Stritch, 56th Primetime Emmy Awards (2004)
17.
Was the speech genuinely unhinged?
and flirting with an F-bomb, shed very nearly earned herself a second Emmy for the speech itself.
16.Jack Palance, 64th Academy Awards (1992)
16.
15.Michelle Williams, 71st Primetime Emmy Awards (2019)
15.
), and for paying her equally.
They put it into their work.
14.Sacheen Littlefeather for Marlon Brando, 45th Academy Awards (1973)
14.
Months before she passed away in 2022, the Academy issued Littlefeather a formal apology.
13.Sheryl Lee Ralph, 28th Critics Choice Awards (2023)
13.
But instead of bringing the pain, she brought a new pinnacle of the uplifting awards speech.
12.Jim Carrey, MTV Movie Awards (1999)
12.
11.Cuba Gooding Jr., 69th Academy Awards (1997)
11.
This battle can be uncomfortable to watch play out.
10.Tom Hanks, 66th Academy Awards (1994)
10.
9.Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, MTV Movie Awards (2005)
9.
And one of you has a Darfur T-shirt on.
While McAdams hasnt had many opportunities to accept awards thereafter (fix it, Academy cowards!
8.Michael Moore (with Michael Donovan), 75th Academy Awards (2003)
8.
But this ceremony was also three days after the U.S. invaded Iraq.
Harrison Ford, living for the chaos!).
7.Olivia Colman, 91st Academy Awards (2019)
7.
6.Halle Berry, 74th Academy Awards (2002)
6.
And Berry managed to meet that moment with the feeling in her speech.
5.Sally Field, 57th Academy Awards (1985)
- earnestness that instead turned her into the butt of the joke.
4.Viola Davis, 89th Academy Awards (2017)
4.
3.Shirley MacLaine, 56th Academy Awards (1984)
3.
But if thats not what youre feeling, singout, Louise!
MacLaine and Winger famously feuded on the set of the film, and Wingers bemused (yet smiling!)
reaction seemed to hidesomethingmuttered under her breath.
Well say it again, theres nothing like an Oscar speech that produces a blind item.
2.Julia Roberts, 73rd Academy Awards (2001)
- like she was just handed a scepter from the queen of England.
And wield that scepter she did.
), and unabashedly thrilled.
Her speech was everything the Oscarsshouldbe: self-indulgent, loudly complimentary about artists, compulsively watchable, and long.
Dame Emma Thompson, 53rd Golden Globes (1996)
1.
Her Austen invocation feels commensurately silly and self-aggrandizing, while hitting the bulls-eye of legitimate gratitude.
