Da’Vine Joy Randolph Brings ‘Holdovers’ Co-Star Paul Giamatti to Tears With Moving Speech

By Anna Menta
Published March 10, 2024, 7:56 p.m. ET

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Da’Vine Joy Randolph took home the award for Best Supporting Actress at the 2024 Oscars on Sunday night for her performance in The Holdovers, and her tearful, heartfelt acceptance had her co-star Paul Giamatti in tears.

He wasn’t the only one—Randolph began crying from the moment she was introduced by fellow Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o, who praised her deeply human performance as Mary Lamb, a cafeteria manager at an elite New England boarding school grieving the death of her son. The tears were flowing freely as Randolph took the stage.

“God is so good,” Randolph said, wiping at her eyes. “I didn’t think I was supposed to be doing this as a career. I started off as a singer. My mother said to me, ‘Go across that street to that theater department, there’s something for you there.’”

Randolph went on to thank her mother, and everyone else in her life, who pushed her onto the right path. Then, Randolph got to the heart of the speech—and suddenly I was crying, too. “For so long I wanted to be different, and now I realize, I just needed to be myself. I thank you all for seeing me.” Randolph also emphatically thanked her teacher. “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,’ you said, ‘That’s fine. We’re gonna forge our own path. You’re gonna lay a trail for yourself.’”

Finally, Randolph gave a special shout-out to her publicist. “I have to give a special shout-out to my publicist, and I know y’all said don’t say nothing about no publicists, but you don’t have a publicist like I have a publicist. You have been by my side. I pray to god I get to do this more than once. I thank you, have a blessed night.”

At this point, the camera cut to Randolph’s co-star, Giamatti, who had a single tear rolling down his cheek as he applauded. It couldn’t be more clear that Giamatti was bursting with pride over his co-star’s win.

Now I’m crying!