Celebrity
Ariana DeBose Became The First Openly Queer Woman Of Color To Win The Oscar
The ‘West Side Story’ star made a historical mark.
Ariana DeBose was emotional on stage after her name was mentioned at the 94th Academy Awards. She’d won the Best Supporting Actress for her role in ‘West Side Story’ as Anita.
The 31-year-old openly queer Afro Latina proudly holds the trophy to Oscars on stage, embracing the proud moment of being the first of them.
It was also DeBose’s first Oscar nomination alongside Jessie Buckley, Judi Dench, Kirsten Dunst, and Aujanue Ellis. Ariana’s superb acting as Anita had landed her many awards, including a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and one nomination for Tony Awards.
Dressed elegantly in Pierpaolo Piccioli’s brave red gown with a slash of tuxedo pants, Ariana looked emotional as she gave her acceptance speech on the historical event.
“Yikes. Okay. Oh, my word. What is this?” said the speechless woman.
The actress admitted that she couldn’t mention to everyone she was feeling grateful for the moment, but she referenced Anita when it comes to chasing one’s dream in life.
She said, “Now you see why Anita says I want to be in America because even in this weary world that we live in, dreams do come true.”
“And that’s really a heartening thing right now.”
“If I took the time to say thank you to every single beautiful person who has lifted me up on the stage, you’ll find people would be sitting here until next Oscars, so I’m going to going to do that, but allow me to say it was the summer of a lifetime, and I am the most privileged and grateful to have spent it with all of you.”
She thanked the director Steven Spielberg, screenwriter Tony Kushner, producer Kristie Macosko Krieger, but most importantly, she showed the utmost respect to Rita Moreno.
“You’re staring at me right now, and I’m so grateful,” said the actress on stage while her eyes were on Rita, the former actress who acted out Anita in 1961. “Your Anita paved the way for tons of Anitas like me. And I love you so much.”
She also specially mentioned her mom with the biggest smile and continued to thank “tribesmen, my family, my loves, Sue, Jonathan, Anthony, I can’t do what I do without each and every one of you”.
“Lastly, imagine this little girl in the back seat of a white Ford focus. Look into her eyes; you see an openly queer woman of color and Afro Latina who found her strength in life through art. That’s what I believe we’re here to celebrate.”
Ariana’s debut was in 2009 on the ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ show and was in the top 20. Soon after that, she starred in ‘Hamilton’ by Lin-Manuel Miranda before taking up roles in movies like ‘Schmigadoo’ and ‘Seaside’.
She’s also been confirmed to play the role of Calypso in Sony’s next movie, “Kraven the Hunter,” as Kraven’s (played by Aaron Taylor) love interest.
