Ariana DeBose won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at the 94th Academy Awards. Ariana took home the award for her role in the Steven Spielberg-directed West Side Story remake, wherein the actor plays the role of Anita, the girlfriend of Sharks gang leader Bernardo, and sings the famous 'America'.
It made DeBose the second Latina actor to win an Oscar, after Rita Moreno, and the first queer woman of colour. Moreno also won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Anita's role in 1962.
In her acceptance speech, DeBose celebrated Moreno as a trailblazer. “I’m so grateful – your Anita paved the way for tons of Anitas like me, and I love you,” she said, adding, "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 a really heartening thing right now”.
The actor recalled her early days as an aspiring performer. "Imagine this little girl in the back seat of a white Ford Focus, look into her eyes,” she said. “You see an openly queer woman of color, an Afro-Latina, who found her strength in life through art. And that is, I think, what we’re here to celebrate. To anyone who has ever questioned your identity or lived in the grey spaces, there is, indeed, a place for us”.
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