Brendan Fraser’s Tearful Oscars Best Actor Win Completes His Hollywood Comeback
Brendan Fraser’s Hollywood comeback is officially complete. On Sunday night, the actor’s eyes were full of tears throughout his acceptance speech for best actor in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale.
“Oh my goodness,” Frasier said as he accepted his award on Sunday night, tears in his eyes. “I thank the Academy for this honor, and for the studio A24 for making such a bold film. And I’m grateful to Darren Aronofsky for throwing me a creative lifeline.”
The Whale was Fraser’s first lead role in a major theatrical release in decades. In 2018, Fraser said in a GQ profile that he’d been groped in 2003 by Phillip Berk—then the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association—and that the group had treated the matter like “a joke.” (In a statement back in 2018, the HFPA said in part that it “continues to stand firmly against sexual harassment” and that it has “always taken Brendan Fraser’s allegations very seriously.”) Since its release, The Whale has been billed as a comeback vehicle for Fraser.