Hyderabad: Three decades after his first Academy Award nomination, Robert Downey Jr. has won his first Oscar. Downey won best-supporting actor on Sunday for his portrayal of Rear Adm. Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer, which was touted as one of his best performances in years.
It was the third career Oscar nomination for the seasoned actor, who is renowned as one of Hollywood's most diverse performers but had never won an Academy Award until Sunday. He received nominations for Best Actor for Chaplin in 1993 and Best Supporting Actor for Tropic Thunder in 2008. When accepting his honour, Downey offered a lighthearted speech.
"I'd like to thank my terrible childhood," he remarked, stopping for laughs from the audience, "and the academy, in that order." He also thanked his wife Susan. "You loved me back to life and that's why I'm here," he said.
Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan's three-hour exploration of the development and aftermath of the atomic bomb during World War II, led the Academy Awards with thirteen nominations. Downey defeated Sterling K. Brown for American Fiction, Ryan Gosling for Barbie, Mark Ruffalo for Poor Things, and Robert De Niro for Killers of the Flower Moon.