Leonardo DiCaprio the 41-year-old actor, has finally won his first Oscar for survival epic The Revenant. He was named best actor at the 88th Academy Awards.
DiCaprio had won every major pre-Oscar award of the 2016 awards season, including the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild award.
He received a standing ovation as he picked up his award, after six acting nominations.
He thanked his director and co-star Tom Hardy for his “fierce talent on screen” and “friendship off screen” before campaigning for action to combat climate change, saying making The Revenant was “about man’s relationship to the natural world”.
He said.”Climate change is real it is happening right now,” he added.”It is the most urgent threat facing our species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.”
He asked the audience to “support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people who’ll be affected by this”.
DiCaprio said while speaking to reporters after his win, “I feel very honoured, to share this has been an amazing experience, to sit there and talk about the film.” He said.
“I also got to talk about something I have been obsessed with the environment and climate change on a platform with hundreds of millions of people watching worldwide.”
He concluded with gracious thanks and said.”Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted.”
Brie Larson named best actress for Room. She thanked everyone involved in the film, including young co-star Jacob Tremblay, who plays her son.
She said. “Who I was by the time the movie was over was so far from where I started. It
was a long process in trying to find myself.” She added . “Now I feel strong, to be holding this gold guy is an incredible metaphor for how I feel inside.”