My mom is 84 years old and she’s at home watching. Mom, I just won an Oscar. My journey started on a boat, I spent a year in a refugee camp, and somehow, I ended up here, on Hollywood’s biggest stage.

They say stories like this only happen in the movies. I cannot believe it’s happening to me.

This—this is the American dream.

Thank you so much, thank you so much to the Academy for this honor of a lifetime. Thank you to my mom for the sacrifices she made to get me here. To my little brother, David, who calls me every day to [tell me to] take good care of myself. I love you, brother…

I owe everything to the love of my life, my wife Echo, who month after month, year after year, for twenty years, told me that one day my time will come.

Dreams are something you have to believe in. I almost gave up on mine—to all of you out there, please keep your dreams alive…

–Ke Huy Quan, Oscar acceptance speech for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Everything Everywhere All at Once, March 12, 2023.

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This is my country and I am so proud of my countryman, who reminded us tonight of what we’re about. Thank you, Ke Huy Quan, for the grace you shared with us.