Regina King Cries as She Thanks Her Mom While Accepting Best Supporting Actress Oscar

Regina King teared up as she thanked her mother, Gloria, in her Oscars speech for Best Supporting Actress

By
Ale Russian
Ale Russian
Ale Russian
Ale Russian is a contributing writer at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2023. Her work has appeared in Women's World, First For Women, Biography.com and the Chicago Sun-Times.
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Published on February 24, 2019 08:26PM EST

Regina King is an Oscar winner!

The 48-year-old actress went one-for-one when she won her first-ever Oscar nomination at the 2019 Academy Awards. King won Best Supporting Actress at the ceremony for her moving role in If Beale Street Could Talk as a mother helping her pregnant young daughter fight the justice system and get her innocent boyfriend out of prison.

King thanked her director Barry Jenkins and James Baldwin, who wrote the book If Beale Street Could Talk in the 1960s.

“To be standing here, representing one of the greatest artists of our time, James Baldwin, it’s a little surreal,” she said. “James Baldwin birthed this baby, Barry you nurtured her, you surrounded her with so much love and support and so it’s appropriate for me to be standing here because I’m an example of when support and love is poured into someone.”

She began to cry as she thanked her mother, Gloria King, whom she brought as her date to the award show.

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Kevin Winter/Getty

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“Mom, I love you so much. Thank you for teaching me that God is always leaning, always has been leaning in my direction,” the star said.

King then thanked her fellow nominees, The Favourite‘s Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone, Vice‘s Amy Adams and Roma‘s Marina de Tavira.

“Emma, Rachel, Marina, Amy, it’s an honor to have my name said with yours, it’s been pretty amazing,” she said. “God is good all the time.”

WATCH: Regina King Reveals The One Question She Hopes To Never Be Asked Again On A Red Carpet

King picked up a number of accolades during her run to the Oscars, including the Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Award. The Oscars win caps up a golden season for King, who also took home an Emmy Award in September for her role in the Netflix mini-series Seven Seconds.

King inspired audiences during her Golden Globe acceptance speech when she pledged to produce projects that are “50% women” in the future.

Regina King Brings Her Mom as Her Date to the 2019 Oscars

“It just came out in the moment, you know?” King told the U.K.’s Metro of making the pledge during her speech. “I did not realize what a wonderful platform the Golden Globes are, because you aren’t just speaking to people in America, you’re speaking to people across the world.”

The 91st Academy Awards are being presented live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday.