This year's Golden Globes were as surprising and interesting as always—I’m talkin’ smuggled-in sandwiches, viral Fiji water girl, and thank-you speeches to Satan. The annual awards delivered the expected yet unexpected upsets and kept the audience on their toes.
But it was the female Globe winners who really stole the show on Sunday. With empowering speeches and vows to promote women’s representation and welfare in the industry, they earned extra rounds of applause from guests.
Here are the well-deserved winners and what they had to say about their careers:
1. Glenn Close
The astounding actress who’s been nominated for 15 Golden Globes over the years, won best actress in a drama motion picture for her role in The Wife. Her role as an unfulfilled wife in the film fueled her acceptance speech, which was rich with rhetoric encouraging women to follow their dreams.
Close expressed her gratitude and admiration towards her peers and her hope for women to find their path: “Women, we’re nurturers, that’s what’s expected of us,” she said. “We have our children. We have our husbands if we’re lucky enough, and our partners, whoever. But we have to find personal fulfilment!”
2. Olivia Colman
Colman won best actress in a musical or comedy motion picture for her role as Queen Anne in The Favourite, marking her second Globes win. She was delighted to play such an empowering character.
In a previous interview, she gushed about the film, "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 f*cking marvelous. It makes you feel proud.”
She appreciates the empowering nature of the film, which comes during a tumultuous period in American society. "[Director Lanthimos] loved the story and wanted to tell it long before current issues had come to the fore. It’s shocking that we’re still going. It’s amazing that there are three women in the lead. It should always have been the case,” Colman said.
3. Regina King
King won best supporting actress in any motion film for her work in If Beale Street Could Talk. During her acceptance speech, she made an admirable promise to use her power to advance women’s representation in the industry.
"I'm going to use my platform right now to say in the next two years, I am making a vow—and it's going to be tough—to make sure that everything I produce is 50% women. And I just challenge anyone out there who is in a position of power—not just in our industry, in all industries—I challenge you to challenge yourselves and stand with us in solidarity and do the same,” she said. Well said, King.
4. Lady Gaga
Gaga was the winner of best original song in a motion picture, for applying her songwriting talents on A Star is Born’s hit track, “Shallow.” Although it was a shock she didn’t rake in more awards for her performance in the heart-wrenching film, Gaga still cried tears of joy when she won the award.
She described the hardships she has faced as a woman in her speech. Praising her co-workers and their support for her as a woman, she said, “I just have to say, as a woman in music, it is really hard to be taken seriously as a musician and a songwriter. These three incredible men…they lifted me up and supported me.”
5. Patricia Arquette
Arquette won best actress in a limited series for her role as a woman who helped two inmates break out of prison in Escape at Dannemora.
Before attending the awards, she confessed to US Weekly, “I mean, really, I’ve been in denial about all of this until about an hour ago. And then I started having a low-grade anxiety attack that I’m hiding while we speak. Yeah, so I don’t know, I need to figure out—I just I’m not comfortable really getting all dressed up—I’m kind of an overalls person, so I have to push pass [sic] my comfort level.”
After the show, she apologized for letting a few profanities slip during her acceptance speech—proving that we’re all human and make mistakes sometimes. I gotta admit, I’d be pretty nervous too if I were up on that stage.
6. Sandra Oh
In 2006, Oh became the first woman of Asian descent to win multiple Golden Globes. After winning best drama TV actress for her role in Killing Eve this year, she became the first woman of Asian descent to win the award since 1980.
Her acceptance speech was all about thanking her parents. “Mostly, there are two people here tonight that I am so grateful that they're here with me. I'd like to thank my mother and my father," she said, followed by, “I love you Mom and Dad,” in Korean.
By the way, if you like murder mysteries and haven’t watched Killing Eve yet, watch it. Seriously, drop everything you’re doing and go watch it.
7. Rachel Brosnahan
This year, Brosnahan won her second Golden Globe for best actress in a musical or comedy TV series (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel).
She was floored by her win after a history of self-doubt. She said, “I’m laughing [at the fact that] I’m now an award-winning comedic actress...I spent most of my life being told I wasn’t funny. I’ve lost many jobs because people would say,‘We really liked her, but she’s just not funny.’ I thought,‘Maybe I should listen to it.”
But she shared her wisdom, claiming, “Now I’ve realized you can continue to learn things, even when you’ve formed a really solid sense of self.”
8. Patricia Clarkson
Clarkson won her first Golden Globe for best supporting actress in a TV series for her role in Sharp Objects.
She gushed over her co-stars and director, stating, “I owe you so very much,” to on-screen daughter Amy Adams and to director Jean-Marc Vallée. She jabbed, “You demanded everything of me except sex, which is exactly how it should be in our industry.”
Clarkson discussed how her role as a Southern matriarch was very difficult, “I think I’m able to play these incredibly compromised, fractured, brutal women characters because I had a beautiful life growing up. I think that feeds you in an odd juxtaposition and an odd way. Adora was one for the books—literally and figuratively—but she’s a character that I love, still, with all of her foibles, all of her faults, all of her troubles. I still love her.”
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By Cara Hutto
Born and raised a Tar Heel, Cara is a culinary aficionado and zealous writer consumed by wanderlust. She's passionate about women's issues and interviewing inspirational women in her community.
