The 83-year-old legendary actor, who beat out the late Chadwick Boseman, is now the oldest actor to ever win an Oscar.
A surprising end to the Oscars: Anthony Hopkins pulled off a shocking upset on Sunday, winning the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in The Father over the late Chadwick Boseman at the 93rd Annual Academy Awards on Sunday.
Boseman, who died last August after a cancer battle, was a frontrunner to win his first Academy Award posthumously for his work in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Instead, Hopkins made a different kind of Oscar history as the oldest actor to take home the statuette at 83 years old.
The final award of the night was presented by last year's Oscar victor in the category, Joaquin Phoenix, who prefaced the winner by saying, "It's a shame that we have to choose just one." Hopkins was not present at the awards show, which was broadcast live from Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles, nor was he in attendance in one of the handful of satellite locations across the world. Phoenix accepted the award on Hopkins' behalf.
The other nominees in Hopkins' category included a diverse field, including Boseman for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Steven Yeun for Minari, Riz Ahmed for The Sound of Metal and Gary Oldman for Mank. Hopkins' latest win marks his second career Oscar, following his 1992 victory for The Silence of the Lambs. He was also nominated two other times for Best Lead Actor -- 1994's The Remains of the Day and 1996's Nixon -- and twice more for Best Supporting Actor -- 1998's Amistad and 2020's The Two Popes.
It was an abrupt ending to a three-hour Oscars telecast that featured many historic winners, but lacked the usual pizazz and glamour usually tied to the Academy Awards. Oscar producers, which included filmmaker Steven Soderbergh, also switched up tradition by awarding Best Picture -- often the final award -- earlier in the evening and ending the night with the lead acting awards.
Fans were quick to react to the sudden end to this year's awards season by taking to Twitter to air our their frustrations, with one viewer calling it the "worst ending to the Oscars in years."
Here is the complete Oscars winners list, as well as the biggest moments from the Oscars.
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