Oscars 2022: Ariana DeBose makes history as first ‘openly queer woman of colour’ to win Best Supporting Actress

Actor played Anita in Steven Spielberg’s musical remake of West Side Story

Ariana DeBose has won Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars 2022.

The actor won the award for her performance in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake, in which she played Anita.

DeBose is the first openly queer woman of colour to win an acting Oscar. Rita Moreno won the Oscar for the same role in 1962.

Also competing for the award were Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter), Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog), Judi Dench (Belfast) and Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard).

DeBose, who is known for her role in Netflix’s The Prom, had been a firm favourite to take home the prize.

Accepting the award, first-time nominee DeBose said: “You see an openly queer woman of colour, an Afro-Latina, who found her strength and life through art. And that is, I think, what we’re here to celebrate. So if anyone has ever questioned your identity, I promise you this – there is indeed a place for us.”

She also commented: “Now you see why Anita says, ‘I want to be in America’, because even in this weary world that we live in, dreams do come true. And that’s really a heartening thing right now.”

The Best Supporting Actress prize was the first award to be handed out during the televised Oscars ceremony, with a number of other awards being controversially announced by the Academy beforehand without TV cameras present.

Ariana DeBose in ‘West Side Story’ (© 2020 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.)

Riz Ahmed was the recipient of one of these awards, taking home his first Oscar as the co-writer and star of the short film The Long Goodbye, which won in the Best Short Film (Live Action) category.

You can follow along with our Oscars 2022 live blog here.

Click here for a list of the winners, updated live as the ceremony progresses.