The Pennsylvania native won her first Academy Award for her portrayal of a grieving Gold Star Mother who recently lost her son in Vietnam in the critically acclaimed drama “The Holdovers.”
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, a Pennsylvania native, completed her sweep of the major acting prizes by taking home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as grief-stricken mother Mary Lamb in director Alexander Payne’s critically acclaimed film “The Holdovers.”
“God is good,” said Randolph at the beginning of her acceptance speech. Her performance as a cook spending her first Christmas after her son’s death in Vietnam with a curmudgeonly professor and a teen abandoned by his family has earned Randolph nearly every major acting award – Golden Globes, Critic’s Choice, and Screen Actors Guild – before winning the Oscar.
The Philly native was recognized over tough competition, beating out Emily Blunt, Danielle Brooks, America Ferrara, and two-time Academy Award-winning actress Jodie Foster.
Randolph was born and raised in Philadelphia and didn’t plan on a career in show business when she initially enrolled at Temple University. During her time as an undergraduate, she shifted her concentration to musical theater and began to consider making acting her future.
“I didn’t think I was supposed to be doing this as a career,” Randolph said during her emotional acceptance speech. “I started off as a singer, and my mother said, ‘Go across that street to that theater department, there’s something for you there.’ And I thank my mother for doing that.”
