Oscars 2023: All the winners from this year’s Academy Awards, and some stand-out Irish moments

By Sarah Gill
13th Mar 2023

IG: @kerrycondon

Oscars 2023: All the winners from this year’s Academy Awards, and some stand-out Irish moments

Irish talent took home two awards from the record haul of 14 nominations, but their presence was still very much felt throughout the night — right down to Jenny the Donkey.

The 95th Academy Award celebration will go down in the history books as a historical night for Irish film, Irish talent, and the Irish language. Having secured a grand total of 14 nominations across a number of different categories, the winners on the night were Ross White and Tom Berkeley’s An Irish Goodbye for best live-action short, and Richard Baneham, for his visual effects work on Avatar: The Way of Water.

Despite being up for nine nominations — including nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, Colin Farrell’s nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan’s nominations for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Kerry Condon’s nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and Martin McDonagh’s nomination for Best Director — The Banshees of Inisherin didn’t manage to secure an award.

Also up for Best Actor in a Leading Role was Kildare’s very own Paul Mescal for his work on Aftersun, and An Cailín Ciúin made Irish cinema history by becoming the first Irish language film to be nominated for an Oscar in the International Feature Film category. Regardless of many’s the candle being lit throughout Ireland in the hopes of a homegrown win, the statuette for Best Actor went to Brendan Fraser for The Whale, and the German war drama All Quiet on the Western Front won in the International category.

The Best Live Action Short success of An Irish Goodbye brought about one of the most wholesome and prideful moments of the night. When he ascended to the pulpit, co-director Ross White gave a shout out to “everybody back home in Northern Ireland who helped [them] make this film.” Co-director Tom Berkeley then continued to tell the audience at the Dolby Theatre that they would be dedicating the rest of their time on stage to a very important task.

“There’s something very important I’d like to speak about as well. This award is actually the second-most-important thing about today, because it’s this man’s birthday.” He was referring to the film’s star, James Martin, and the entire room gave a stunning rendition of Happy Birthday to mark the occasion.

An unexpected moment of wholesomeness at the #Oscars: The entire audience singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to James Martin from ‘An Irish Goodbye’ moments after the film won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film pic.twitter.com/m3gKt7XStS

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) March 13, 2023

Also putting his time on stage to good use was Tallaght’s very own Richard Baneham, who won alongside Eric Saindon, Daniel Barrett and Joe Letteri for their work on Avatar: The Way of Water. Beginning his speech with a cúpla focail, he said: “Go raibh maith agat to James Cameron, whose artistic thumbprint is on every frame of this movie.”

No wins for The Quiet Girl or The Banshees of Inisherin, alas, but we did get to hear Oscar-winner Richard Baneham say ‘Go raibh míle maith agat to James Cameron’, which was broadcast to millions of people worldwide.

So that’s something. pic.twitter.com/IhCcDMdPjE

— This Day in Irish History (@ThisDayIrish) March 13, 2023

In a stunt that left Colin Farrell equal parts stunned and delighted was the moment when host Jimmy Kimmel led Jenny the Donkey — the breakthrough star of Banshees — onto the stage, introducing her as an emotional support animal that would be on hand for any comforting needs throughout the night. Naturally, Martin McDonagh and Kerry Condon have already confirmed that this wasn’t the actual Jenny the Donkey, but I guess it’s the thought that counts and the gag certainly garnered quite the reaction.

Kimmel also acknowledged the astonishing number of Irish actors present on the night, though he may have done so in a questionable manner. Referencing last year’s slap that rocked the nation, he said: “It was some year for diversity. We have nominees from every corner of Dublin. Five Irish actors are nominated tonight, which means the odds of another fight on stage just went way up.”

Elsewhere, Paul Mescal’s mother, Dearbhla, cut a dash on the champagne carpet, telling Variety that she trusted in her son’s ambition to become an actor, and had only ever imagined the day that he would be up for the most prestigious award in film. One more moment that no one saw coming? Brendan Gleeson shared a smooch with his Folie à Deux castmate ahead of her performance later in the night.

https://t.co/tqIkeNXKzC pic.twitter.com/unRuIHzSBL

— nell mescal (@nellmescal_) March 12, 2023

Claiming a grand total of seven awards on the night was the multiverse sci-fi epic, Everything Everywhere All at Once. Among these awards was the historic achievement of Michelle Yeoh, who became the first woman of Asian descent to win the award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Tearfully presented to her by Halle Berry — the only other person of colour to have won the award — Yeoh’s acceptance speech was one of the most impactful on the night:

“For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities,” she said. “This is proof that … dreams do come true. And, ladies, don’t let anybody tell you you’re ever past your prime.”

“Ladies, don’t let anyone tell you you are ever past your prime.” – Michelle Yeoh #Oscars pic.twitter.com/Kghu1jx53F

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) March 13, 2023

Winner of Best Actor in a Supporting Role was Everything Everywhere All at Once’s Ke Huy Quan, whose speech stirred up real emotion in the audience. “My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp. And somehow I ended up here on Hollywood’s biggest stage. They say stories like this only happen in the movies. I cannot believe it’s happening to me. This is the American dream.”

Though the Irish may not have taken home all of the many nominations from this year’s Academy Awards, the achievement and excitement of this year’s ceremony will remain. Here is a full list of all winners from the 2023 Oscars.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

WINNER

BRENDAN FRASER, The Whale

NOMINEES

AUSTIN BUTLER, Elvis

COLIN FARRELL, The Banshees of Inisherin

PAUL MESCAL, Aftersun

BILL NIGHY, Living

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

WINNER

KE HUY QUAN, Everything Everywhere All at Once

NOMINEES

BRENDAN GLEESON, The Banshees of Inisherin

BRIAN TYREE HENRY, Causeway

JUDD HIRSCH, The Fabelmans

BARRY KEOGHAN, The Banshees of Inisherin

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

WINNER

MICHELLE YEOH, Everything Everywhere All at Once

NOMINEES

WINNER

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

Germany

NOMINEES

ARGENTINA, 1985

Argentina

Belgium

Poland

THE QUIET GIRL

Ireland

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

WINNER

THE WHALE

Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Annemarie Bradley

NOMINEES

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová

THE BATMAN

Naomi Donne, Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER

Camille Friend and Joel Harlow

ELVIS

Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo Signoretti

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

WINNER

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

Volker Bertelmann

NOMINEES

BABYLON

Justin Hurwitz

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

Carter Burwell

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

Son Lux

THE FABELMANS

John Williams

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

WINNER

NAATU NAATU

from RRR; Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose

NOMINEES

APPLAUSE

from Tell It like a Woman; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

HOLD MY HAND

from Top Gun: Maverick; Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga and BloodPop

LIFT ME UP

from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; Lyric by
Tems and Ryan Coogler

THIS IS A LIFE

from Everything Everywhere All at Once; Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski; Lyric by Ryan Lott and
David Byrne

BEST PICTURE

WINNER

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, Producers

NOMINEES

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

Malte Grunert, Producer

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER

James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, Producers

ELVIS

Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick and Schuyler Weiss, Producers

THE FABELMANS

Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, Producers

TÁR

Todd Field, Alexandra Milchan and Scott Lambert, Producers

TOP GUN: MAVERICK

Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer, Producers

TRIANGLE OF SADNESS

Erik Hemmendorff and Philippe Bober, Producers

WOMEN TALKING

Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Frances McDormand, Producers

PRODUCTION DESIGN

WINNER

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

Production Design: Christian M. Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper

NOMINEES

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER

Production Design: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter; Set Decoration: Vanessa Cole

BABYLON

Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino

ELVIS

Production Design: Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy; Set Decoration: Bev Dunn

THE FABELMANS

Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

WINNER

THE BOY, THE MOLE, THE FOX AND THE HORSE

Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud

NOMINEES

THE FLYING SAILOR

Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

ICE MERCHANTS

João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano

MY YEAR OF DICKS

Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon

AN OSTRICH TOLD ME THE WORLD IS FAKE AND I THINK I BELIEVE IT

Lachlan Pendragon

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

WINNER

AN IRISH GOODBYE

Tom Berkeley and Ross White

NOMINEES

IVALU

Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan

LE PUPILLE

Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón

NIGHT RIDE

Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen

THE RED SUITCASE

Cyrus Neshvad

SOUND

WINNER

TOP GUN: MAVERICK

Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor

NOMINEES

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel and Stefan Korte

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER

Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers and Michael
Hedges

THE BATMAN

Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray and Andy Nelson

ELVIS

David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson and Michael Keller

VISUAL EFFECTS

WINNER

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER

Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett

NOMINEES

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar

THE BATMAN

Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands and Dominic Tuohy

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER

Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White and Dan Sudick

TOP GUN: MAVERICK

Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson and Scott R. Fisher

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

WINNER

WOMEN TALKING

Screenplay by Sarah Polley

NOMINEES

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

Screenplay – Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell

GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY

Written by Rian Johnson

LIVING

Written by Kazuo Ishiguro

TOP GUN: MAVERICK

Screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; Story by Peter Craig and
Justin Marks

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

WINNER

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert

NOMINEES

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

Written by Martin McDonagh

THE FABELMANS

Written by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner

TÁR

Written by Todd Field

TRIANGLE OF SADNESS

Written by Ruben Östlund

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Oscars 2023: All the winners from this year’s Academy Awards, and some stand-out Irish moments