Emma Stone nabbed the ultimate happy ending at the Oscars February 26. The star, 28, took home the Best Actress trophy for her role in La La Land — a part that also earned her a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a BAFTA Award. Watch her speech in the clip above, and keep up with tonight’s ceremony with Us Weekly’s live blog!
Stone, who played aspiring actress Mia opposite Ryan Gosling‘s Sebastian in the Damien Chazelle–directed film, began her acceptance speech by thanking her fellow nominees. “You were all so extraordinary and I look up to you and admire you more than I can put into words,” she gushed.
The Arizona native also thanked her family (including her parents and brother), director Chazelle for his faith and patience, and costar Gosling for “being the greatest partner on this crazy adventure.”
Stone, who bested Elle’s Isabelle Huppert, Loving’s Ruth Negga, Jackie’s Natalie Portman and Florence Foster Jenkins’ Meryl Streep, gave a similarly emotional speech at the Golden Globes January 8 — encouraging fans to follow their dreams.
“I think that hope and creativity are two of the most important things in the world,” she said. “To any creative person who has had a door slammed in their face … or anyone who feels like giving up … I share this with you.”
It’s a feeling that hit close to home for Stone, who also scored an Oscar nomination for 2015’s Birdman. Ahead of the musical’s December release, Stone revealed to Us Weekly that she related to Mia’s struggle to break into show business.
“When I was lucky, there were, like, five auditions a week — that’s when you’re really lucky,” she told Us. “I think the worst part is when I wasn’t getting any auditions because that sort of ignorable feeling is somehow more brutal than being rejected.”
Stone also talked to Us about how hard she and Gosling worked to nail the film’s five musical numbers.
“I mean, we needed to learn to tap-dance and ballroom-dance and I needed to work on my singing and he learned that jazz piano pretty much from scratch,” she said. “So we just spent a number of hours each day going through different stations, doing dance rehearsal, then I would go to singing lessons and then piano lessons. We were there every day for two-and-a-half, three months.”