Oscars 2023, Year of the Comebacks
This year’s acting prizes were marked by a recognition of veteran performers: Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Brendan Fraser, and Michelle Yeoh.
All 2023’s actor prizes at the Oscars have something in common: they are all veterans. Some return after years of alternate fortunes in the entertainment industry, while others have always worked with success. Still, this is the first time the Academy has recognized them with an Oscar. Mark Olsen in the Los Angeles Times analyses that: “This year even saw industry figures such as super producer Jerry Bruckheimer receive his first-ever Oscar nomination for Top Gun: Maverick, where Tom Cruise’s nomination as a producer on the film was his first in more than 20 years, since a supporting actor nod for Magnolia.”
The most gratifying experience belongs to Ke Huy Quan. He was 12 when he started to act in movies such as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies. Later in his career, the opportunities grew fewer and fewer. Eventually, he accepted to gravitate in the movie industry as a director’s assistant or fight coordinator until a chance came, with Everything Everywhere All at Once. In his Oscar speech, he said: “My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp and somehow ended up on Hollywood’s biggest stage. They say stories like this only happen in the movies. I cannot believe it’s happening to me. This, this is the American Dream.” Jamie Lee Curtis has a different story. The daughter of Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, she appertains to the Hollywood nobility. She has worked in the movie industry since she was 19. “I’m 64 years old, and this is just amazing,” she said on stage.
Lead actress winner Michelle Yeoh has also had an extensive career and no Academy recognition until this year. The Malaysian-Chinese actor became an international star in the ’80s and ’90s in action films — where she did many of her own stunts — such as Yes, Madam, The Heroic Trio, and Supercop. She appeared in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies and became even more of a global superstar with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000. Afterward, she always worked, but her celebrity status slowed down. With Everything Everywhere All at Once, Michelle Yeoh becomes the first Asian performer to win the best actress Oscar.
Brendan Fraser has another comeback story to tell. He was a massive box office star with films like Encino Man (which also featured Quan), School Times, George of the Jungle and The Mummy, but in the last decades, he had seen his career slow down considerably. Being given a leading role as demanding and challenging as that of a 600-pound man in The Whale brought a return to the spotlight and an Academy Award for lead actor.
“Call it a comeback, call it long overdue recognition, but this year’s acting prizes went to veteran performers who were finally getting the public acclaim they had long deserved,” Olsen wrote.
Source: Los Angeles Times
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This year’s acting prizes were marked by a recognition of veteran performers: Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Brendan Fraser, and Michelle Yeoh.
All 2023’s actor prizes at the Oscars have something in common: they are all veterans. Some return after years of alternate fortunes in the entertainment industry, while others have always worked with success. Still, this is the first time the Academy has recognized them with an Oscar. Mark Olsen in the Los Angeles Times analyses that: “This year even saw industry figures such as super producer Jerry Bruckheimer receive his first-ever Oscar nomination for Top Gun: Maverick, where Tom Cruise’s nomination as a producer on the film was his first in more than 20 years, since a supporting actor nod for Magnolia.”
The most gratifying experience belongs to Ke Huy Quan. He was 12 when he started to act in movies such as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies. Later in his career, the opportunities grew fewer and fewer. Eventually, he accepted to gravitate in the movie industry as a director’s assistant or fight coordinator until a chance came, with Everything Everywhere All at Once. In his Oscar speech, he said: “My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp and somehow ended up on Hollywood’s biggest stage. They say stories like this only happen in the movies. I cannot believe it’s happening to me. This, this is the American Dream.” Jamie Lee Curtis has a different story. The daughter of Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, she appertains to the Hollywood nobility. She has worked in the movie industry since she was 19. “I’m 64 years old, and this is just amazing,” she said on stage.
Lead actress winner Michelle Yeoh has also had an extensive career and no Academy recognition until this year. The Malaysian-Chinese actor became an international star in the ’80s and ’90s in action films — where she did many of her own stunts — such as Yes, Madam, The Heroic Trio, and Supercop. She appeared in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies and became even more of a global superstar with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000. Afterward, she always worked, but her celebrity status slowed down. With Everything Everywhere All at Once, Michelle Yeoh becomes the first Asian performer to win the best actress Oscar.
Brendan Fraser has another comeback story to tell. He was a massive box office star with films like Encino Man (which also featured Quan), School Times, George of the Jungle and The Mummy, but in the last decades, he had seen his career slow down considerably. Being given a leading role as demanding and challenging as that of a 600-pound man in The Whale brought a return to the spotlight and an Academy Award for lead actor.
“Call it a comeback, call it long overdue recognition, but this year’s acting prizes went to veteran performers who were finally getting the public acclaim they had long deserved,” Olsen wrote.
Source: Los Angeles Times
