The Favourite's Olivia Colman Wins Best Actress in Oscars Surprise

In one of the bigger surprises of this year's Oscars, Olivia Colman won the best actress award for her queer role as Queen Anne in The Favourite over the favored winner, Glenn Close. Colman has nabbed a few awards this season, including a Golden Globe and a BAFTA, but Close had been considered the front-runner.

Winning for her role in Yorgos Lanthimos's delicious 18th-century romp that costars Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone as ladies in waiting who vie to bed Queen Anne and become the "favourite," Colman delivered a characteristically charming speech.

Colman was nominated with Close for The Wife, Melissa McCarthy for Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Yalitza Aparicio for Roma, and Lady Gaga for A Star Is Born.

"It's genuinely quite stressful. This is hilarious. I got an Oscar," an emotional Colman said. "I have to thank lots of people. Yorgos [Lanthimos], my best director and the best film with Emma [Stone] and Rachel [Weisz], the two loveliest women to fall in love with and go to work with every day. You can imagine it wasn't a hardship."

Regarding the responsibility of playing a queer character, Colman told The Advocate last fall, "There are many aspects of being an actress. It's a very privileged thing if you're getting work, it's great."

"But if you give a voice to people who've been ignored. That's just fucking marvelous. It makes you feel proud," she said.

Then, acknowledging her surprise win over Close, Colman said, "Glenn, you've been my idol for so long, and this is not how I wanted it to be, and I think you're amazing and I love you very much."

Toward the end of her speech, Colman merely exclaimed, "Lady Gaga!" at one of her other category mates.

Read The Advocate's interview with Colman here.