Philadelphia native Da'Vine Joy Randolph wins Oscar for Best Supporting Actress
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 10: DaVine Joy Randolph, winner of the Best Supporting Actress award for "The Holdovers", onstage in the press room at the 96th Annual Academy Awards at Ovation Hollywood on March 10, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Phot
PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia showed up strong at the Oscars Sunday night, and the city couldn't be more proud!
Da'Vine Joy Randolph walked away with a Best Supporting Actress award for her role in "The Holdovers."
The Philadelphia native beat out America Ferra for "Barbie, "Danielle Brookes for "The Color Purple," Emily Blunt for "Oppenheimer," and Jodie Foster for "Nyad."
"God is good," Randolph kicked off her emotional acceptance speech as she told the story of how she became an actress.
"I didn’t think I was supposed to be doing this as a career," she said. "I started off as a singer and my mother said go across that street to that theater department. There's something for you there."
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That theater department was right on North Broad Street in Philadelphia.
Randolph grew up in the city's Mount Airy neighborhood, eventually attending Temple University.
The impact was felt at Temple University as the alumna won an Oscar Sunday night.
"Right now I’m currently like the lead in Footloose here," said Zachary Boufford, a Sophomore at Temple University.
Boufford hopes a degree in the arts can lead to the name "Zachary" being in the bright lights one day.
"I would love to be on stage, I would love to star in movies, all of that," said Boufford.
Similar to Boufford’s role model, Randolph.
Boufford and others within the Temple Arts program held an Oscar watch party to show support for Da’Vine.
"We were all rooting for her. When her name came up on the screen, we all subconsciously locked hands," said Boufford.
The group went wild as Da’Vine won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in "The Holdovers".
"I was flashing back to being in the rehearsal room with her in, "Into the Woods, here at Temple, just working with her, a lot of tears and a lot of great memories," said Peter Reynolds, the head of Musical Theater at Temple University.
Reynolds is a Professor at Temple University and worked with Da’Vine in class and at shows at the University.
He says her success comes as no surprise.
"Charisma is charisma. You can’t teach Charisma, her talent was undeniable, and she was such an original," said Reynolds.
Her original style and success is now helping the next generation of Philly youth and Temple students like Zachary, discover their dreams are obtainable too.
Boufford said "It’s such a surreal moment, it like pushes us to work harder because it’s humbling because we all started at the exact same spot."