Every Actor's Oscar Speech Of The Last 10 Years, Ranked
Ah, the Oscar acceptance speech: a two-minute climax of an actor's career and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (unless you're a god-tier, multiple-time winner) to make an impactful statement before millions of viewers.
Over the decades we've witnessed the full gamut of speeches — from fumbling, long-winded rants, to succinct "my privilege, thank you"s. Some have cemented themselves into the cultural consciousness ("You like me!") while others have evaporated from our minds before the winners left the stage.
With this year's Oscars just around the corner, and four more actors adding speeches to the pantheon on March 27, I thought it would be fun to look back at the last decade and rank our winners based on their speeches. Who understood the assignment and who missed the mark?
In evaluating each Oscar speech, I looked for excitement, eloquence, humor, and, most of all, a memorable message that pushed beyond a list of disembodied names. So we've got 40 speeches (four from each year 2012–2021). Let's get started.