Robert Downey Jr. has won his first Oscar, beating Ryan Gosling in the Best Supporting Actor category at the 2024 Academy Awards.
The actor took home the gong for his role in Oppenheimer, and during his acceptance speech, thanked his wife Susan Downey for helping him restore his career after his well publicised battle with drug addiction.
"I would like to thank my terrible childhood and the Academy in that order," he said jokingly. "I would like to thank my veterinarian... I meant wife Susan Downey over there. She found me a snarling rescue pet and you loved me back to life, and that is why I am here."
He went on to pay tribute to the rest of the cast in the movie, saying that he needed the role more than the movie needed him.
"Chris (Nolan) knew it, Emma made sure she surrounded me with one of the great casts and crews of all time, Emily (Blunt), Cillian (Murphy), Matt Damon, it was fantastic, and I stand here before you a better man because of it. What we do is meaningful and the stuff that we decide to make is important."
Ryan was widely tipped to win the award for his role as Ken in Barbie. American Fiction’s Sterling K. Brown, Killers of the Flower Moon’s Robert De Niro, and Mark Ruffalo of Poor Things were also in the running.
