Da'Vine Joy Randolph's Oscar Win Reduces Audience to Tears: 'I Thank You for Seeing Me'

Da’Vine Joy Randolph completed her award season sweep with a triumph!

The star, 37, won at the 2024 Oscars on Sunday, taking home Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Holdovers. The award was presented by five of the category's past winners: Regina King, Jamie Lee Curtis, Rita Moreno, Lupita Nyong'o and Mary Steenburgen.

"God is so good," Randolph, already in tears, began her speech.

"I didn't think I was supposed to be doing this as a career," she said. "I started off as a singer. And my mother said to me, 'Go across that street to that theatre department. There's something for you there.' And I thank my mother for doing that."

She continued, "I thank you to all the people who have stepped in my path and been there for me, who have ushered me and guided me. I am so grateful to all you beautiful people out here. For so long, I've always wanted to be different, and now I realize I just need to be myself."

The Only Murders in the Building star, 37, continued, "I thank you for seeing me."

Thanking "all the women who have been by my side," Randolph named one more meaningful people who'd guided her career: "Ron Van Lieu, I thank you. When I was the only Black girl in that class, when you saw me and you told me I was enough. And when I told you, I don't see myself, he said, 'That's fine. We're going to forge our own path. You're going to lay a trail for yourself.'"

She concluded, "I pray to God that I get to do this more than once. I thank you for seeing me. Have a blessed night. Thank you."

The other nominees this year were Oppenheimer's Emily Blunt, The Color Purple's Danielle Brooks, Barbie's America Ferrera and Nyad's Jodie Foster.

With Golden Globe, Critics Choice, BAFTA and SAG Award wins, Randolph swept awards season for her work as Mary Lamb in The Holdovers. She plays a cook and grieving mother working at the Barton Academy who stays at the boarding school during the holiday season.

Randolph recently told PEOPLE how she's staying grounded leading up to Oscars night, calling it "unknown territory" for her. "Everyone is just saying pace yourself, try to stay as present as possible, stay hydrated and take good care of yourself because it's a marathon," she said of award season.

The star added of the nomination, "I haven't fully processed it, but it was overwhelming in the best way possible. And to feel all of the love and the support has been so tremendous."

"I think it's just a beautiful reminder. It's bigger than us. What we do actually really matters, it helps people and it makes people happy or feel seen or heard," Randolph added. "That's why I do what I do."

Blunt, who was also nominated for Sunday's first award of the night, earned her first nod for portraying the real-life Kitty Oppenheimer. She celebrated by having “a good cry” with husband John Krasinski. The British actress, 40, helped make director Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer one of 2023’s biggest box-office hits. 

In addition to Blunt’s nod, Oppenheimer notched the most nominations of any film at this year’s ceremony with 13. Her costars Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. were recognized for their performances too.

Brooks, 34, is another first-time Oscar nominee, recognized for her performance in The Color Purple. In the Blitz Bazawule–directed musical, Brooks plays the headstrong Sofia (originally portrayed by Oprah Winfrey, who executive produced the adaptation of the 1982 Alice Walker novel).

Brooks also played the character in a Broadway revival beginning in 2015, which earned her a Tony Award nomination. 

The Orange Is the New Black star’s performance also received acknowledgment at the Golden Globes and SAG Awards. 

Ferrera, 39, delivered one of the year’s most viral movie moments with an impassioned speech to Margot Robbie’s Barbie on the paradoxes of womanhood. The Ugly Betty alum notched her first Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Gloria.

In addition to her Best Supporting Actress nod, Barbie has eight total nominations at this year’s ceremony, including Ryan Gosling for Best Supporting Actor. The summer blockbuster became the highest-grossing film of 2023. 

In a biopic about swimmer Diana Nyad (played by Annette Bening), Foster, 61, plays swim coach Bonnie Stoll, whom she befriended ahead of filming.

This is Foster's first Oscar nomination in 29 years. A two-time winner of the Best Actress title (for 1988’s The Accused and 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs), she is one of two people to win multiple Oscars before the age of 30.

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The 96th Academy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, are airing live on ABC Sunday from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California.