The actress completed her awards season sweep with her first Oscar win since 2004.
Renée Zellweger completed her awards season sweep on Sunday, winning the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance as Judy Garland in the Rupert Goold-directed biopic, Judy.
She began by thanking the Academy and then directed herself to her fellow nominees.
"Cynthia, Scarlett, Charlize, Saoirse, I have to say it is an honor to be considered in your company," Zellweger expressed. She then thanked her entire team and the creators of Judy, before talking about how heroes inspire others to do great things and "to find the best in ourselves."
Zellweger completed her speech by praising Garland. "And although Judy Garland did not receive this honor in her time," she said, "I am certain that this moment is an extension of her legacy that began on our film set and is also representative of her legacy."
The honor is Zellweger's second Oscar win out of four career nominations; she took home the trophy for Best Supporting Actress for Cold Mountain in 2004. She was previously nominated in the lead category in 2002 and 2003, for Bridget Jones's Diary and Chicago, respectively.
Along with most of her fellow acting winners, Zellweger was seen as a lock for the Oscar, after winning the Golden Globe, SAG Award, BAFTA, Critics' Choice Award and more earlier this year. And the awards circuit has been a reunion tour of sorts for the actress, as she caught up with former fellow castmates Hugh Grant and Catherine Zeta-Jones at various shows, and even sent a sweet shout-out to Jerry Maguire co-star Tom Cruise in her SAG acceptance speech.
The actress opened up to ET about her stunning turn in Judy at the 23rd Annual Hollywood Film Awards back in November, where she got candid about the experience of embodying the late legend.
"It didn't feel like making a film at all. It just felt like this really spoiled-rotten deep dive into trying to understand the circumstances of this extraordinary persona's life," she said. "And then getting to celebrate her and the legacy of her work and sort of bring a different truth about the final chapter of her life to light, which was just such a privilege."
See more from Zellweger's awards season run in the video below.
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