































© Getty Images
0 / 32 Fotos
And the best speeches are... Halle Berry, 2002 - After receiving a standing ovation for being the first African-American woman to win Best Actress, an emotional Berry gave one of the best speeches ever. "This moment is so much bigger than me ... it's for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened."
© Getty Images
1 / 32 Fotos
Olivia Colman, 2019
- Many people felt Colman deserved an Oscar for the endearing, funny, and incredibly humble speech she made while accepting Best Actress for 'The Favourite.'
© Getty Images
2 / 32 Fotos
Tom Hanks, 1994 - Tom Hanks won Best Actor for his role in 'Philadelphia,' and after winning gave an eloquent speech supporting and paying tribute to those affected by AIDS, which had a greater amount of stigma attached to it back then.
© Reuters
3 / 32 Fotos
Kate Winslet, 2010 - Winslet only ever took home one Oscar out of seven nominations, but when she took home Best Actress for 'The Reader,' she spoke of how many times she'd practiced making the speech holding a shampoo bottle. From her dad whistling to let her know where he was sitting, to telling Meryl Streep to suck it up because none of the actresses could believe they were nominated alongside her, it was perfect.
© Getty Images
4 / 32 Fotos
Viola Davis, 2017 - Winning Best Supporting Actress for her role in 'Fences,' Davis highlighted the importance of acting to her: "People ask me all the time, 'What kind of stories do you want to tell, Viola?' And I say 'Exhume those bodies.' Exhume those stories—the stories of the people who dreamed big and never saw those dreams to fruition, people who fell in love and lost." Host Jimmy Kimmel rightfully joked that Davis "just won an Emmy for that speech."
© Getty Images
5 / 32 Fotos
Julie Andrews, 1965 - Receiving the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in 'Mary Poppins,' Andrews began, "I know you Americans are famous for your hospitality, but this is really ridiculous." She essentially thanked America for making her feel welcome.
© Getty Images
6 / 32 Fotos
Lupita Nyong'o, 2014 - Nyong'o paid tribute to the woman she played in '12 Years a Slave' when accepting her Best Supporting Actress award by stating, "It doesn't escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else's... When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you're from, your dreams are valid.”
© Getty Images
7 / 32 Fotos
Jennifer Lawrence, 2013 - If anyone was going to trip on their way to accept the award for Best Actress, at least it was the hilariously bold Lawrence. She openly laughed at herself and said, "You're all only standing because I fell and that was embarrassing."
© Getty Images
8 / 32 Fotos
Common and John Legend, 2015 - John Legend and Common won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for 'Glory' from 'Selma,' and their emotionally- and politically-charged speech feels even more relevant and important today. Legend highlighted the fact that America has more black men under correctional control than were under slavery in 1850.
© Getty Images
9 / 32 Fotos
Meryl Streep, 2012 - Winning Best Actress for 'Iron Lady,' Streep joked that she could hear half of America whine when they called her name, but then delivered a compelling speech brimming with gratitude for the people around her and the industry she gets to be a part of.
© Getty Images
10 / 32 Fotos
Cuba Gooding Jr., 1997 - Taking home Best Supporting Actor, Gooding Jr. didn't hide a drop of joy, delivering most of his speech yelling over the music and making the entire audience smile by literally jumping for joy.
© Reuters
11 / 32 Fotos
Patricia Arquette, 2015 - Calling out the wage gap in and out of Hollywood, Arquette took her chance while accepting Best Supporting Actress for 'Boyhood' to make an essential statement “to every woman who gave birth to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation.”
© Getty Images
12 / 32 Fotos
Louise Fletcher, 1976 - Fletcher's acceptance speech for Best Actress for her role as the nurse in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' made everyone laugh—from claiming that they hated her so much that they're giving her an award for it, to thanking the cast for making being in a mental institution feel like being in a mental institution—but it was also incredibly heartfelt. She ended by thanking both her parents in sign language.
© Getty Images
13 / 32 Fotos
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, 1998 - Winning Best Original Screenplay for 'Good Will Hunting,' the childhood friends' voices cracked as Affleck attempted to thank as many people as possible in the small amount of time they were given, and as Damon decided to start shouting out people's names at the same time in a hilarious, endearing mess.
© Reuters
14 / 32 Fotos
Robin Williams, 1998 - The cherished late actor received the award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in 'Good Will Hunting,' delivering a speech that was as endlessly entertaining as himself. He poked fun at Damon and Affleck's age, the Hollywood monarch Harvey Weinstein, and his late father's advice when he told him he wanted to act: "have a backup profession like welding."
© Reuters
15 / 32 Fotos
Matthew McConaughey, 2014 - Taking home the Best Actor award for his performance in 'Dallas Buyers Club,' McConaughey said he needs three things every day: something to look up to (God), something to look forward to (his family), and a hero to chase (himself in 10 years). Of course, he ended it with his trademark "all right, all right, all right."
© Getty Images
16 / 32 Fotos
And now, the worst speeches: Angelina Jolie, 2000 - Jolie made headlines after she kissed her brother, James Haven, on the red carpet, and then started her Best Supporting Actress acceptance speech for 'Girl, Interrupted' by saying, "I'm just so in love with my brother right now." It was uncomfortable, to say the least.
© Reuters
17 / 32 Fotos
Gwyneth Paltrow, 1999
- Accepting the Best Actress award for 'Shakespeare in Love,' Paltrow delivered the standard-fare gush until about three minutes in when she lost control and started sobbing so much that cameras cut to her mother, actress Blythe Danner,
who also looked visibly uncomfortable.
© Reuters
18 / 32 Fotos
Adrien Brody, 2003 - Winning Best Actor for 'The Pianist' should have been a fantastic moment, but Brody took presenter Halle Berry by surprise and mashed his face against hers for an uncomfortable amount of time, which certainly would not fly in this age.
© Reuters
19 / 32 Fotos
Anne Hathaway, 2013 - Hathaway only garnered more Hathahate following her lackluster hosting experience with James Franco, during which time she also accepted Best Supporting Actress for 'Les Misérables.' "It came true," she said, as if to herself, referencing the song she sang in the film. The moment felt corny, like an insincere attempt at sincerity, and the rest of the speech wasn't much better.
© Getty Images
20 / 32 Fotos
James Cameron, 1998 - There are few moments in Oscars history more cringeworthy than the 'Titanic' director holding his Best Director award in the air and screaming into the microphone, "I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD!" Leave it to Leo, please.
© Reuters
21 / 32 Fotos
Sally Field, 1985 - Field's acceptance speech for Best Actress for 'Places in the Heart' is often remembered for the line, "You like me, you really like me!" But she never actually said that, even if the real thing wasn't much better.
© Reuters
22 / 32 Fotos
George Clooney, 2006 - Accepting Best Supporting Actor for 'Syriana' should have been a moment of gratitude, but Clooney famously delivered a self-congratulatory speech that seemed to place Hollywood on the forefront of activism for queer people affected by AIDS, for civil rights, for black representation, and more.
© Getty Images
23 / 32 Fotos
Melissa Leo, 2011
- Winning Best Supporting Actress for 'The Fighter' after reportedly personally paying for her own Hollywood trade ads in a shameless tactic that actually worked, Leo was cheesy right from asking Kirk Douglas to pinch her all the way to using his cane and exiting the stage pretending to be an old lady.
© Getty Images
24 / 32 Fotos
Sean Penn, 2004 - Penn admitted that his kids told him it would be presumptuous to prepare a speech, but the excruciatingly awkward silences littered throughout his Best Actor acceptance speech (for his role in 'Mystic River') might've changed their minds.
© Getty Images
25 / 32 Fotos
Hilary Swank, 2000 - The Best Actress winner, for her role in 'Boys Don't Cry,' delivered a standard speech accompanied by notes to make sure she didn't forget anyone, and everything was going fine until she "last but certainly not least” thanked Brandon Teena (whom she played in the film), and the cameras zoomed in on her then-husband Chad Lowe.
© Reuters
26 / 32 Fotos
Joe Pesci, 1991 - When Joe Pesci took home Best Supporting Actor for his performance in 'Goodfellas,' his speech was short and not that sweet: "It was my privilege. Thank you."
© Getty Images
27 / 32 Fotos
Sacheen Littlefeather for Marlon Brando, 1973 - Brando sent Native American actress and activist Sacheen Littlefeather to the stage to reject his award for Best Actor in protest against the treatment and stereotyping of American Indians by the film industry and on television. The cause was highly respectable, but Brando wrote a speech too long for her to read, and the few insolent audience members who booed gave the entire night a sour taste.
© BrunoPress
28 / 32 Fotos
'La La Land' / 'Moonlight,' 2017 - Who could forget the colossal screw-up where 'La La Land' was incorrectly named Best Picture? Director Barry Jenkins and the 'Moonlight' team handled it so gracefully, despite the fact that their completely deserving moment should have been theirs and theirs alone. After embarrassing speeches from the 'La La Land' team, the folks behind 'Moonlight' accepted the award with such gratitude that even Samuel L. Jackson shed a tear in the audience.
© Getty Images
29 / 32 Fotos
George C. Scott, 1971 - The actor chose not to accept his Best Actor award for 'Patton' as a stand against the Academy itself. Instead, the Academy had the film's producer accept the award on his behalf and discuss just how great and generous the Academy is...
© Getty Images
30 / 32 Fotos
Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe, Patricia Dehaney-Le May, 2019
- The winners of Best Hair and Makeup, for their work on 'Vice,' were the subject of much online criticism after they attempted to take turns reading off a sheet of paper, quickly losing track of who was reading what. It was cringe-worthy at best. See also: The most shocking moments in Oscars history.
© Getty Images
31 / 32 Fotos
© Getty Images
0 / 32 Fotos
And the best speeches are... Halle Berry, 2002 - After receiving a standing ovation for being the first African-American woman to win Best Actress, an emotional Berry gave one of the best speeches ever. "This moment is so much bigger than me ... it's for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened."
© Getty Images
1 / 32 Fotos
Olivia Colman, 2019
- Many people felt Colman deserved an Oscar for the endearing, funny, and incredibly humble speech she made while accepting Best Actress for 'The Favourite.'
© Getty Images
2 / 32 Fotos
Tom Hanks, 1994 - Tom Hanks won Best Actor for his role in 'Philadelphia,' and after winning gave an eloquent speech supporting and paying tribute to those affected by AIDS, which had a greater amount of stigma attached to it back then.
© Reuters
3 / 32 Fotos
Kate Winslet, 2010 - Winslet only ever took home one Oscar out of seven nominations, but when she took home Best Actress for 'The Reader,' she spoke of how many times she'd practiced making the speech holding a shampoo bottle. From her dad whistling to let her know where he was sitting, to telling Meryl Streep to suck it up because none of the actresses could believe they were nominated alongside her, it was perfect.
© Getty Images
4 / 32 Fotos
Viola Davis, 2017 - Winning Best Supporting Actress for her role in 'Fences,' Davis highlighted the importance of acting to her: "People ask me all the time, 'What kind of stories do you want to tell, Viola?' And I say 'Exhume those bodies.' Exhume those stories—the stories of the people who dreamed big and never saw those dreams to fruition, people who fell in love and lost." Host Jimmy Kimmel rightfully joked that Davis "just won an Emmy for that speech."
© Getty Images
5 / 32 Fotos
Julie Andrews, 1965 - Receiving the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in 'Mary Poppins,' Andrews began, "I know you Americans are famous for your hospitality, but this is really ridiculous." She essentially thanked America for making her feel welcome.
© Getty Images
6 / 32 Fotos
Lupita Nyong'o, 2014 - Nyong'o paid tribute to the woman she played in '12 Years a Slave' when accepting her Best Supporting Actress award by stating, "It doesn't escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else's... When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you're from, your dreams are valid.”
© Getty Images
7 / 32 Fotos
Jennifer Lawrence, 2013 - If anyone was going to trip on their way to accept the award for Best Actress, at least it was the hilariously bold Lawrence. She openly laughed at herself and said, "You're all only standing because I fell and that was embarrassing."
© Getty Images
8 / 32 Fotos
Common and John Legend, 2015 - John Legend and Common won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for 'Glory' from 'Selma,' and their emotionally- and politically-charged speech feels even more relevant and important today. Legend highlighted the fact that America has more black men under correctional control than were under slavery in 1850.
© Getty Images
9 / 32 Fotos
Meryl Streep, 2012 - Winning Best Actress for 'Iron Lady,' Streep joked that she could hear half of America whine when they called her name, but then delivered a compelling speech brimming with gratitude for the people around her and the industry she gets to be a part of.
© Getty Images
10 / 32 Fotos
Cuba Gooding Jr., 1997 - Taking home Best Supporting Actor, Gooding Jr. didn't hide a drop of joy, delivering most of his speech yelling over the music and making the entire audience smile by literally jumping for joy.
© Reuters
11 / 32 Fotos
Patricia Arquette, 2015 - Calling out the wage gap in and out of Hollywood, Arquette took her chance while accepting Best Supporting Actress for 'Boyhood' to make an essential statement “to every woman who gave birth to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation.”
© Getty Images
12 / 32 Fotos
Louise Fletcher, 1976 - Fletcher's acceptance speech for Best Actress for her role as the nurse in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' made everyone laugh—from claiming that they hated her so much that they're giving her an award for it, to thanking the cast for making being in a mental institution feel like being in a mental institution—but it was also incredibly heartfelt. She ended by thanking both her parents in sign language.
© Getty Images
13 / 32 Fotos
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, 1998 - Winning Best Original Screenplay for 'Good Will Hunting,' the childhood friends' voices cracked as Affleck attempted to thank as many people as possible in the small amount of time they were given, and as Damon decided to start shouting out people's names at the same time in a hilarious, endearing mess.
© Reuters
14 / 32 Fotos
Robin Williams, 1998 - The cherished late actor received the award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in 'Good Will Hunting,' delivering a speech that was as endlessly entertaining as himself. He poked fun at Damon and Affleck's age, the Hollywood monarch Harvey Weinstein, and his late father's advice when he told him he wanted to act: "have a backup profession like welding."
© Reuters
15 / 32 Fotos
Matthew McConaughey, 2014 - Taking home the Best Actor award for his performance in 'Dallas Buyers Club,' McConaughey said he needs three things every day: something to look up to (God), something to look forward to (his family), and a hero to chase (himself in 10 years). Of course, he ended it with his trademark "all right, all right, all right."
© Getty Images
16 / 32 Fotos
And now, the worst speeches: Angelina Jolie, 2000 - Jolie made headlines after she kissed her brother, James Haven, on the red carpet, and then started her Best Supporting Actress acceptance speech for 'Girl, Interrupted' by saying, "I'm just so in love with my brother right now." It was uncomfortable, to say the least.
© Reuters
17 / 32 Fotos
Gwyneth Paltrow, 1999
- Accepting the Best Actress award for 'Shakespeare in Love,' Paltrow delivered the standard-fare gush until about three minutes in when she lost control and started sobbing so much that cameras cut to her mother, actress Blythe Danner,
who also looked visibly uncomfortable.
© Reuters
18 / 32 Fotos
Adrien Brody, 2003 - Winning Best Actor for 'The Pianist' should have been a fantastic moment, but Brody took presenter Halle Berry by surprise and mashed his face against hers for an uncomfortable amount of time, which certainly would not fly in this age.
© Reuters
19 / 32 Fotos
Anne Hathaway, 2013 - Hathaway only garnered more Hathahate following her lackluster hosting experience with James Franco, during which time she also accepted Best Supporting Actress for 'Les Misérables.' "It came true," she said, as if to herself, referencing the song she sang in the film. The moment felt corny, like an insincere attempt at sincerity, and the rest of the speech wasn't much better.
© Getty Images
20 / 32 Fotos
James Cameron, 1998 - There are few moments in Oscars history more cringeworthy than the 'Titanic' director holding his Best Director award in the air and screaming into the microphone, "I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD!" Leave it to Leo, please.
© Reuters
21 / 32 Fotos
Sally Field, 1985 - Field's acceptance speech for Best Actress for 'Places in the Heart' is often remembered for the line, "You like me, you really like me!" But she never actually said that, even if the real thing wasn't much better.
© Reuters
22 / 32 Fotos
George Clooney, 2006 - Accepting Best Supporting Actor for 'Syriana' should have been a moment of gratitude, but Clooney famously delivered a self-congratulatory speech that seemed to place Hollywood on the forefront of activism for queer people affected by AIDS, for civil rights, for black representation, and more.
© Getty Images
23 / 32 Fotos
Melissa Leo, 2011
- Winning Best Supporting Actress for 'The Fighter' after reportedly personally paying for her own Hollywood trade ads in a shameless tactic that actually worked, Leo was cheesy right from asking Kirk Douglas to pinch her all the way to using his cane and exiting the stage pretending to be an old lady.
© Getty Images
24 / 32 Fotos
Sean Penn, 2004 - Penn admitted that his kids told him it would be presumptuous to prepare a speech, but the excruciatingly awkward silences littered throughout his Best Actor acceptance speech (for his role in 'Mystic River') might've changed their minds.
© Getty Images
25 / 32 Fotos
Hilary Swank, 2000 - The Best Actress winner, for her role in 'Boys Don't Cry,' delivered a standard speech accompanied by notes to make sure she didn't forget anyone, and everything was going fine until she "last but certainly not least” thanked Brandon Teena (whom she played in the film), and the cameras zoomed in on her then-husband Chad Lowe.
© Reuters
26 / 32 Fotos
Joe Pesci, 1991 - When Joe Pesci took home Best Supporting Actor for his performance in 'Goodfellas,' his speech was short and not that sweet: "It was my privilege. Thank you."
© Getty Images
27 / 32 Fotos
Sacheen Littlefeather for Marlon Brando, 1973 - Brando sent Native American actress and activist Sacheen Littlefeather to the stage to reject his award for Best Actor in protest against the treatment and stereotyping of American Indians by the film industry and on television. The cause was highly respectable, but Brando wrote a speech too long for her to read, and the few insolent audience members who booed gave the entire night a sour taste.
© BrunoPress
28 / 32 Fotos
'La La Land' / 'Moonlight,' 2017 - Who could forget the colossal screw-up where 'La La Land' was incorrectly named Best Picture? Director Barry Jenkins and the 'Moonlight' team handled it so gracefully, despite the fact that their completely deserving moment should have been theirs and theirs alone. After embarrassing speeches from the 'La La Land' team, the folks behind 'Moonlight' accepted the award with such gratitude that even Samuel L. Jackson shed a tear in the audience.
© Getty Images
29 / 32 Fotos
George C. Scott, 1971 - The actor chose not to accept his Best Actor award for 'Patton' as a stand against the Academy itself. Instead, the Academy had the film's producer accept the award on his behalf and discuss just how great and generous the Academy is...
© Getty Images
30 / 32 Fotos
Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe, Patricia Dehaney-Le May, 2019
- The winners of Best Hair and Makeup, for their work on 'Vice,' were the subject of much online criticism after they attempted to take turns reading off a sheet of paper, quickly losing track of who was reading what. It was cringe-worthy at best. See also: The most shocking moments in Oscars history.
© Getty Images
31 / 32 Fotos
Adrien Brody breaks world record for longest Oscars speech
He also threw his gum and silenced the orchestra
© Getty Images
The speeches at the 97th Academy Awards provided many memorable moments, but it was Adrien Brody who really stuck out—and it was for all the wrong reasons.
Before his speech even began, the Best Actor Oscar winner realized he had gum in his mouth and threw it from the steps of the stage into his partner's hands. He then went on to break the Guinness World Record for the longest Oscars acceptance speech in history, at a whopping five minutes and 40 seconds.
The time set for each speech is usually 45 seconds. However, when the music began to play to signal that he should wrap things up, ‘The Brutalist’ (2024) actor replied, "Please turn the music off. I've done this before," referring to the first Best Actor award he won for his part in ‘The Pianist’ (2002). He then went on to break Greer Garson’s previous record, which was set at five minutes and 30 seconds in 1943.
But this isn’t the only memorable speech in Oscar's history. With limited time, a global audience, and a million people to thank, they can either make you cry or make you cringe. So, get your popcorn ready and check out this gallery to see the best and worst Oscar acceptance speeches of all time.
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