Demi Moore Wins First Golden Globe, Says She Was at a “Low Point” in Career Before ‘The Substance’ Role
Demi Moore won the award for best performance by an actress in a motion picture – musical or comedy at the 2025 Golden Globes.
Moore was nominated alongside Amy Adams (Nightbitch), Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez), Mikey Madison (Anora) and Zendaya (The Challengers).
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The Globe marked Moore’s third nomination and first win.
“I really wasn’t expecting that. I’m just in shock right now! I’ve been doing this a long, like over 45 years and this is the first time I’ve ever won anything as an actor. And I’m just so humbled and so grateful,” she said when taking the stage.
Moore went on to reflect on how 30 years ago she was told by a producer that she was “a popcorn actress.” She added, “And at that time I made that mean that this wasn’t something that I was allowed to have, that I could do movies that were successful, that made a lot of money. But that I couldn’t be acknowledged and I bought in and I believed that. And that corroded me over a time.”
The actress went on to recall that she got to a point where she felt maybe she had already done what she was “supposed to do” and was at a “low point” in her career when the “magical, bold, courageous, out of the box, absolutely bonkers script” of The Substance came to her.
“The universe told me that you’re not done,” she said. At the end of her acceptance speech, Moore then encouraged women who have ever felt they weren’t “smart enough, pretty enough” or “just not enough,” by recalling advice she received once.
“I had a woman say to me, ‘Just know you will never be enough but you can know the value of your worth if you just put down the measuring stick,'” she said. “And so today I celebrate this as a marker of my wholeness and of the love that is driving me, and for the gift of doing something I love, and being reminded that I do belong.”
Backstage after her win, Moore said despite winning she isn’t looking at the future and what comes next in her career.
“I think what’s most important is staying present in this moment because this is what we’ve got, and this is so full and rich onto itself,” she said. “If I were to look at it from a hopeful perspective, it’s really what it can do for me which is what I’ve been saying along this whole journey which it’s important not to make it mean too much but it’s also important not to make it mean too little. Being the joy of what this is and then out of that present space whatever is to come to unfold.”
In The Substance, Moore stars as Elisabeth Sparkle, an aging Hollywood star who embraces a secret cloning procedure to save her career. Coralie Fargeat directed the campy body horror film which also stars Margaret Qualley.
While discussing what drew her to the film in The Hollywood Reporter’s drama actress roundtable, Moore said, “The script was such an interesting, out-of-the-box read, the way in which it was exploring the issue of aging. The thing that grabbed me was the exploration of the violence we can have against ourselves, that way in which we can dissect and criticize. I have found, at least in my own experience in life, that it’s really not what anyone else has ever done to me. The impact has always been on what I do to myself, internalized.”
Throughout the film, Moore said most of her scenes were “almost all alone” with “no dialogue.”
“So everything was the kind of odd, intimate moments we have with ourselves, where we are often naked, looking, dissecting, thinking. It was a really interesting challenge to create a full life for her, because I didn’t have someone else to feed off of. It was also very technical,” she said.
Going into the ceremony, Emilia Pérez led the the nominations with 10 nods, more than any other title in film or on TV. The film’s 10 nominations broke the record previously held by a comedy or musical motion picture, surpassing Barbie, which scored a total of nine noms last year.
On the film side, The Brutalist received seven noms, Conclave got six, and Anora and The Substance got five each. The Bear led the TV nominees with five total mentions, followed by Only Murders in the Building and Shogun with four each.
Viola Davis will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award and Ted Danson will receive the Carol Burnett Award, which recognizes TV excellence.
The Golden Globes aired live Sunday from the Beverly Hilton on CBS and streamed on Paramount+. Nikki Glaser hosted.
Golden Globes producer Dick Clark Productions is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and Eldridge that also owns The Hollywood Reporter.
See all of the Globes red carpet looks here.
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