Ariana DeBose wins the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress

The Oscar for The best supporting actress is for Ariana DeBose for West Side Story.

DeBose won the Oscar Sunday night for her acting, singing and dancing as Anita in her outstanding role in Steven Spielberg’s reinvention of the classic musical.

will the first Afro-Latina and openly LGBTQ actress win in the category. “To anyone who’s ever questioned their identity,” he said, “I promise there’s a place for us.”

Ariana DeBose, Jordan Strauss

The 31-year-old North Carolina native, who was largely unknown in film circles before landing the coveted role, became the clear favorite for the Oscars after a win-filled awards season.

She was previously best known as a stage actress, with roles on Broadway in Bring It On: The Musical, Motown: The Musical and Hamilton.

DeBose beat fellow nominees Jessie Buckley, Judi Dench, Kirsten Dunst and Aunjanue Ellis. He thanked Rita Moreno, who starred in the 1961 and 2021 film adaptations.

Her win came exactly 60 years after the role brought equal recognition to Rita Moreno.

Rita Moreno, left, and Ariana DeBose arrive at the Oscars at the Dolby Theater on March 27, 2022 in Los Angeles. In the background is Steven Spielberg. (AP Photo/Jae C Hong) (The Associated Press)They start with Beyoncé

The 94th Academy Awards began with Beyoncé, eight off-camera awards and a trio of presenters, including Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer and Regina Hall.

“All right, this is the Oscars,” Hall said. To which Sykes replied, “Where movie lovers gather and watch TV.”

The three actresses happily joked about pertinent Hollywood issues such as equal pay – they said hiring three female hosts is “cheaper than one man” – the Lady Gaga drama Sykes dubbed the “House of Random Accents,” Golden Globe Status (for the in memoriam pack) and Leonardo DiCaprio’s girlfriends. Their most political comment came at the end of their opening routine, promising a great night.

“And for you guys in Florida,” Skykes said, “we’re going to have a gay night.”

“Dune” (“Duna”) won four awards before the televised ceremony began and added another for the camera shortly thereafter. The sci-fi epic, directed by Denis Villeneuve, received awards for Original Music by Hans Zimmer, Editing, Production Design and Sound.

The awards ceremony began an hour earlier from the off with the awards ceremony, which also included best make-up and best hair for The Eyes of Tammy Faye for the short film, animated short film and documentary short film awards .

The award for Best Animated Short went to “The Windshield Wiper” by Spaniards Alberto Mielgo (director) and Leo Sánchez (producer), about a middle-aged man who asks himself and the audience what love is.

The Long Goodbye won Best Documentary and The Queen of Basketball won Best Documentary.

With a Latino presence spanning multiple categories after hardly any last year, the Oscars returned to Dolby for a different ceremony.

Producers aim to reverse years of poor ratings – topped off their worst last year when the celebration was moved to Union Station for a scaled-down event due to the pandemic – with a sweeping list of changes ranging from eight awards an hour before the televised gala (of which fragments are cut for the ceremony), three conductors after three years without a master of ceremonies, and musical numbers that go beyond the nominated songs (haven’t they figured it out? Yes, they’ll be talking about Bruno!)

Regaining viewers’ interest doesn’t seem like an easy task. Although the film industry made a significant recovery from the pandemic in 2021, the recovery has been patchy. Globally, tickets were sold about half last year compared to 2019: $21.3 billion in 2021 versus $42.3 billion in 2021, according to the Motion Picture Association. And more films than ever went straight to households: of this year’s 10 Best Picture nominees, half were available on streaming platforms on or near the day of their release.

There’s also the challenge of a Hollywood celebration after two years of the pandemic and while Russia’s war in Ukraine is drawing global attention. The show’s producer, Will Packer, has said that the war will be honored throughout the broadcast.

Netflix’s The Power of the Dog, a goth western directed by Jane Campion, comes in with 12 nominations and a good shot at the grand prize. But Sian Heder’s drama about a deaf family, CODA, which has only three nominations, is considered by many to be a favorite. His win would be a win for Apple TV+, which picked up the film at last year’s Sundance Film Festival and spent big bucks promoting it in the Oscar race.

After several years without a host, organizers turned to Schumer, Sykes and Hall to present the gala. They’ve also assembled an all-star group featuring Billie Eilish, Beyoncé and Sebastián Yatra to sing the nominated songs, while the cast of “Encanto” feature Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” with help will be performed by Becky G and Luis Fonsi.

17 photosThe stars arrive at the big event at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.

The change that generated the most controversy was the delivery of the eight prizes in advance. Earlier this month, more than 70 Oscar winners, including Guillermo del Toro, James Cameron and Kathleen Kennedy, warned that the change would make some nominees feel like “second-class citizens.”

Del Toro is on the list of Latin American and Ibero American artists nominated this year. The Mexican filmmaker is competing for Best Picture for “Nightmare Alley” (“The Alley of Lost Souls”), which he directed and co-produced. Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz appear as leads in “Being the Ricardos” (“Ser los Ricardo”) and “Madres paralleles,” respectively.

Miranda could achieve the coveted EGOT status, an acronym by which Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony winners are known, for the song “Dos oruguitas” from “Encanto”, among other things. And Germaine Franco could become the first Latino woman to win the Best Original Score award for her score for the same film.

Miranda, who would attain EGOT status (an acronym for people who have received Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards) if they win, announced Saturday that he cannot attend as his wife is positive has been tested for COVID.

After last year’s disappointing finale, when the event ended with the Best Actor award and winner Anthony Hopkins was not present to accept it, the producers vowed to continue the tradition of closing the gala with the highest honor of the evening: best movie.