Oscars 2023: Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis among early winners

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Ke Huy Quan wins the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for "Everything Everywhere All at Once" during the Oscars show at the 95th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 12, 2023Image source, Reuters
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Accepting best supporting actor, Quan said: "I cannot believe it is happening to me"

Everything Everywhere All at Once star Ke Huy Quan is among the early winners at this year's Oscars.

He won best supporting actor at the ceremony, which is taking place in Los Angeles, while his co-star Jamie Lee Curtis won best supporting actress.

Quan was catapulted back into the spotlight thanks to his role in the film, which could win best picture.

He told the audience: "Dreams are something you have to believe in - I almost gave up on mine."

The 51-year-old took an extended break from acting after rising to fame as a child star in films such as The Goonies and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

In an emotional speech, the Vietnamese actor said: "They say stories like this only happen in the movies - I cannot believe it is happening to me. This is the American dream.

"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."

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Ke Huy Quan pictured as a child actor holding hands with Harrison Ford on the set of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984
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Jamie Lee Curtis's victory in best supporting actor marks the first Oscar in her 45-year acting career

Curtis's supporting actress win marks her first Oscar in her 45-year acting career.

"I know it looks like I'm standing up here by myself but I am not, I am hundreds of people," Curtis said in her acceptance speech.

"The entire group of artists who made this movie - we just won an Oscar."

Everything Everywhere All at Once is a madcap sci-fi adventure which sees a laundrette owner, played by Michelle Yeoh, hop through the multiverse exploring different versions of herself.

Quan plays the husband of Yeoh's character, while Curtis plays IRS inspector Deirdre Beaubeirdre who chases the family to pay their taxes.

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Pinocchio, directed by Guillermo del Toro (left) won best animated feature

The 95th Academy Awards are currently taking place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, with US comic Jimmy Kimmel hosting this year's ceremony.

A string of Hollywood A-listers are in attendance, having walked the champagne-coloured carpet outside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio was named best animated feature - the first award of the night.

Navalny won best documentary, All Quiet on the Western Front scored best cinematography, while An Irish Goodbye was named best live action short film.

Later in the ceremony, Everywhere All at Once is the favourite to win best picture after success on this year's awards' circuit.

But it faces competition from All Quiet on the Western Front and The Banshees of Inisherin, among others.

Austin Butler, Brendan Fraser, Cate Blanchett and Yeoh are the frontrunners in the leading actor and actress categories.

Jimmy Kimmel's best Oscars jokes

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Jimmy Kimmel referred to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock during his opening monologue

The 95th Academy Awards ceremony is being hosted by US chat show host Jimmy Kimmel, who opened with a monologue which reflected on the last 12 months in the film industry.

"They say Hollywood is running out of ideas. I mean Steven Spielberg had to make a movie about Steven Spielberg," he joked, referring to the director's autobiographical best picture nominee The Fabelmans.

He also paid tribute to composer John Williams, the oldest nominee in Oscars history. "John turned 91 last month, and he's still scoring, if you know what I mean," Kimmel quipped.

Reflecting on the mixed year Hollywood has had, Kimmel said: "Batgirl became the first superhero to be defeated by the accounting department."

The US comic also made reference to Avatar: The Way of Water, which he said was "another opportunity for James Cameron to do what he loves doing more than anything else - drowning Kate Winslet" (the actress also appeared in Cameron's Titanic).

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Watch: Stars shine on Oscar's champagne carpet

"It was a big year for diversity and inclusion," Kimmel continued, "we have nominees from every corner of Dublin." The Banshees of Inisherin has four acting nominations, including Colin Farrell and Kerry Condon.

Finally - Kimmel referenced the event that overshadowed last year's ceremony - Will Smith slapping Chris Rock.

"If anyone here commits an act of violence during the show, you will be awarded best actor, and permitted to give a 19-minute speech," Kimmel said, to much laughter.

This is the chat show host's third time hosting the Academy Awards. He most recently presided over the 2018 event.

How to watch the Oscars

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Viewers in the US can watch the Oscars live on ABC. The network is also streaming the ceremony on its website and app.

In the UK, Sky will air the ceremony across four of its channels simultaneously - Sky Arts, Sky News, Sky Showcase and Sky Cinema Oscars.

Unusually, that means British viewers can watch the Oscars on Freeview and Freesat. It is also available on streaming service Now (formerly Now TV).

Who is presenting at the Oscars?

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Last year's winners (L-R) Ariana DeBose, Troy Kotsur and Jessica Chastain will present, but Will Smith will be absent

Traditionally, the four acting winners from the previous year's Oscars come back to present the prizes to their successors.

This year, three of 2022's winners are returning - Jessica Chastain, Ariana DeBose and Troy Kotsur - but the fourth, Will Smith, is absent as he's been banned for attending the Oscars for 10 years.

Other stars presenting categories this year include Harrison Ford, Nicole Kidman, Samuel L Jackson, Dwayne Johnson, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, John Travolta, Emily Blunt, Jennifer Connelly and Florence Pugh.

Interestingly, Halle Berry has also been invited to present. She remains the only woman of colour to win best leading actress at the Oscars, but we could see the second this year with Yeoh.

Other category presenters include Paul Dano, Andrew Garfield, Cara Delevingne, Kate Hudson, Michael B Jordan, Jonathan Majors, Mindy Kaling, Eva Longoria, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Andie MacDowell and Riz Ahmed.

They will be joined by Antonio Banderas, Elizabeth Banks, Hugh Grant, Salma Hayek Pinault, Melissa McCarthy, Halle Bailey, Janelle Monáe, Questlove, Elizabeth Olsen and Pedro Pascal.

What will win best picture?

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Everything Everywhere All at Once was named best feature at last week's Independent Spirit Awards

At this point, Everything Everywhere All at Once is the clear frontrunner, having won nearly every major precursor it needed to - with the notable exception of Bafta.

The British Academy was far less keen on the film than US voters have been, and the Baftas gave far more prizes to All Quiet on the Western Front.

At the Oscars, the World War One epic is the bookies' second favourite to take the top prize, followed by The Banshees of Inisherin.

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Oscars 2023: The best picture contenders in 40 seconds

Best picture is decided via a preferential ballot - Academy members are asked to rank the 10 nominated films from favourite to least favourite.

That can mean a film which has passionate support among a vocal but relatively small section of the Academy can lose out to a film which pleased a wider number of voters overall.

For example, a crowd pleaser such as Top Gun: Maverick could be a dark horse in the best picture race due to the large number of second and third place votes it is likely to have received.

Who is performing?

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Rihanna will perform at the Oscars exactly one month since headlining the Super Bowl halftime show

Rihanna will take to the Academy Awards stage exactly one month since her electrifying performance at the Super Bowl. She will perform Lift Me Up (from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), which is nominated for best original song.

The most likely winner in that category, however, is Naatu Naatu (from RRR) - which will be performed at the ceremony by Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava.

David Byrne, Son Lux and Stephanie Hsu will perform This Is A Life (from Everything Everywhere All at Once), while Diane Warren and Sofia Carson will perform Applause (from Tell It Like a Woman).

On Sunday, it was announced Lady Gaga will perform Hold My Hand (from Top Gun: Maverick), the fifth nominee in the category, despite earlier reports that she would not.

Elsewhere, Lenny Kravitz will perform during the In Memoriam segment, which pays tribute to film figures who have died over the past year.

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