Entertainment
Golden Globes 2021: Andra Day breaks down as she becomes second Black female ever to land best actress award in 35 years
![Anda Day in tears as she wins best actress at Golden Globes 2021](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/PRC_184709041.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024)
Andra Day broke down in tears as she became the Golden Globe’s second ever Black female star to land the best actress in a drama motion picture award in 35 years.
On Sunday night the Golden Globes took place virtually, with Day, 36, going up against Viola Davis, Vanessa Kirby, Carey Mulligan and Frances McDormand in her category.
Day became a first-time Golden Globe winner and said she was in the ‘presence of giants’ as she referenced those in her category while breaking down in tears during her acceptance speech.
She took home the award for her role The United States vs Billie Holiday and her surprise win made history, as Day became the second ever Black female to receive the gong.
The first was Whoopi Goldberg who won best actress in a drama motion picture in 1986 for The Colour Purple.
Day was surrounded by her family and came over all emotional, as she shakily made her way through her speech, saying: ‘To all the other nominees, I can’t believe I’m sitting in the presence of giants… you inspire me so much.
‘And to the amazing, transformative Billie Holiday who just transformed me with this role, with her presence, her spirit… thank you to everybody so much who was a part of this project.’
Referencing Holiday as one of her major influences, Day plays the jazz singer in biographical movie The United States vs Billie Holiday, which follows Holiday in the 1940s as she’s targeted by the government in a bid to stop her music from inspiring the civil rights movement.
The federal government tried to stop Holiday from performing her iconic ballad Strange Fruit – a song denouncing the lynching of Black people – but she refused to back down.
Day was also nominated for best original song at the Golden Globes, with Tigress & Tweed – a track from the movie – receiving a nod in the category, but it lost out to Io Si (Seen) from movie The Life Ahead.
She wasn’t the only star to make history at this year’s ceremony, as Chloé Zhao became the second ever female filmmaker and the first Asian female to win best director for her feature Nomadland.
Barbara Streisand was the first female to bag the coveted award nearly 40 years ago for her movie Yentl in 1984.
Reacting to the news, Streisand said it was ‘about time’ another woman scooped the trophy, as she tweeted: ‘It’s about time! Congratulations Chloé! Well deserved!’
Other big winners on the night included British stars Josh O’Connor, Emma Corrin and Gillian Anderson for their appearances in season four of The Crown as Prince Charles, Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher respectively.
Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Ruffalo, Jodi Foster, Schitt’s Creek star Catherine O’Hara and The Queen’s Gambit actress Anya Taylor-Joy also scooped awards, with Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman receiving a posthumous best actor award for his role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
The Golden Globes were hosted by returning stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who were seen calling out the Hollywood Foreign Press Association over its lack of diversity in their opening monologue.
Golden Globes 2021 winners and nominees
Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy
- The Flight Attendant
- The Great
- Emily in Paris
- Ted Lasso
- WINNER: Schitt’s Creek
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
- Jason Bateman, Ozark
- Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
- Al Pacino, Hunters
- Matthew Rhys, Perry Mason
- WINNER: Josh O’Connor, The Crown
Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
- Cate Blanchett, Mrs. America
- Shira Haas, Unorthodox
- Nicole Kidman, The Undoing
- Daisy Edgar-Jones, Normal People
- WINNER: Anya Taylor-Joy, The Queen’s Gambit
Best Director – Motion Picture
- Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
- David Fincher, Mank
- Regina King, One Night in Miami
- Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7
- WINNER: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
- Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
- Michelle Pfeiffer, French Exit
- Anya Taylor-Joy, Emma
- Kate Hudson, Music
- WINNER: Rosamund Pike, I Care a Lot
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
- Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
- Anthony Hopkins, The Father
- Gary Oldman, Mank
- Tahar Rahim, The Mauritanian
- WINNER: Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Best Television Series – Drama
- Lovecraft Country
- The Mandalorian
- Ozark
- Ratched
- WINNER: The Crown
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama
- Olivia Colman, The Crown
- Jodie Comer, Killing Eve
- Laura Linney, Ozark
- Sarah Paulson, Ratched
- WINNER: Emma Corrin, The Crown
Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
- Bryan Cranston, Your Honor
- Jeff Daniels, The Comey Rule
- Hugh Grant, The Undoing
- Ethan Hawke, The Good Lord Bird
- WINNER: Mark Ruffalo, I Know This Much Is True
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
- James Corden, The Prom
- Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
- Dev Patel, The Personal History of David Copperfield
- Andy Samberg, Palm Springs
- WINNER: Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
- Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
- Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman
- Frances McDormand, Nomadland
- Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
- WINNER: Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Best Motion Picture – Drama
- The Father
- Mank
- Promising Young Woman
- The Trial of the Chicago 7
- WINNER: Nomadland
Best Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture
- Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7
- Jared Leto, The Little Things
- Bill Murray, On the Rocks
- Leslie Odom, Jr., One Night in Miami
- WINNER: Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
Best Original Score – Motion Picture
- The Midnight Sky, Alexandre Desplat
- Tenet, Ludwig Göransson
- News of the World, James Newton Howard
- Mank, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
- WINNER: Soul, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
- Lily Collins, Emily in Paris
- Kaley Cuoco, The Flight Attendant
- Elle Fanning, The Great
- Jane Levy, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist
- WINNER: Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek
Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
- Normal People
- Small Axe
- The Undoing
- Unorthodox
- WINNER: The Queen’s Gambit
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
- Brendan Gleeson, The Comey Rule
- Dan Levy, Schitt’s Creek
- Jim Parsons, Hollywood
- Donald Sutherland, The Undoing
- WINNER: John Boyega, Small Axe
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
- Hamilton
- Palm Springs
- Music
- The Prom
- WINNER: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Best Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture
- Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy
- Olivia Colman, The Father
- Amanda Seyfried, Mank
- Helena Zengel, News of the World
- WINNER: Jodie Foster, The Mauritanian
Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language
- Another Round
- La Llorona
- The Life Ahead
- Two of Us
- WINNER: Minari
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
- Promising Young Woman
- Mank
- The Father
- Nomadland
- WINNER: The Trial of the Chicago 7
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
- Don Cheadle, Black Monday
- Nicholas Hoult, The Great
- Eugene Levy, Schitt’s Creek
- Ramy Youssef, Ramy
- WINNER: Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
- Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown
- Julia Garner, Ozark
- Annie Murphy, Schitt’s Creek
- Cynthia Nixon, Ratched
- WINNER: Gillian Anderson, The Crown
Best Original Song – Motion Picture
- Fight for You from Judas and the Black Messiah – H.E.R., Dernst Emile II, Tiara Thomas
- Hear My Voice” from The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Daniel Pemberton, Celeste
- Speak Now from One Night in Miami – Leslie Odom Jr, Sam Ashworth
- Tigress & Tweed from The United States vs. Billie Holliday
- WINNER: Io Si (Seen) from The Life Ahead – Diane Warren, Laura Pausini, Niccolò Agliardi
Best Motion Picture – Animated
- The Croods: A New Age
- Onward
- Over the Moon
- Wolfwalkers
- WINNER: Soul
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