Cillian Murphy’s big Oscar win for Best Actor

Cillian Murphy just won his first Oscar as Best Actor at the recently concluded 96th Academy Awards, Deadline reported.

The actor, who’s a first-time nominee, won for his part in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, playing the titular character, J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb.

Is Cillian Murphy the Irishman of the year?

This is Murphy’s fifth collaboration with Nolan and his first lead. This is also the first time an Irish-born actor has won the award.

The actor gave a shout-out to Ireland during his speech, “I’m a very proud Irishman standing here tonight.”

He said thank you to Nolan and producer Emma Thomas, “It’s been the wildest, most exhilarating, most creatively satisfying journey you’ve taken me on for the last 20 years. I owe you more than I can say.”

Murphy also thanked the rest of the cast and crew and stated, “You guys carried me through.”

As he concluded his speech, Murphy said, “We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb, and for better or for worse, we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world, so I’d really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere.”

The actor has previously won all the major acting prizes this awards season such as the BAFTAs, Critics Choice, Golden Globes and SAG Awards.

In Oppenheimer, Murphy played the titular character, who was tasked to lead the still-controversial Manhattan Project to create the atomic bomb. After the war, he became very vocal against nuclear armament. He was then stripped of his security clearance after a hearing about his alleged communist ties in 1954. In 2022, that was reversed by the US Secretary of Energy due to the biased and unfair process.

The movie earned 13 Academy Award nominations and seven wins aside from Murphy’s Best Actor. It gave Nolan his first Oscar as Best Director, and Robert Downey Jr. his first as well for Best Supporting Actor. The film also won the top prize as Best Picture.

The movie was both a critical and box office hit earning almost $958 million worldwide.

The other Best Actor nominees were Bradley Cooper for Maestro, Colman Domingo for Rustin, Paul Giamatti for The Holdovers and Jeffrey Wright for American Fiction.

See the full list of 2024 Oscar nominees and winners here.