Top 10 Oscar Winners of the 21st Century

The 2017 Best Picture Award goes to...

We could not have made this list without including one of the most dramatic wins and meme generator moment of recent years.

Flash back to the 2017 ceremony, it felt like a two-horse race for Best Picture, between Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight and Damien Chazelle’s La La Land. In a moment of pure drama, the presenters were given the wrong envelope and announced La La Land as the winner, only for it to be revealed (after their team joyously swarmed the stage) that the real winner was Moonlight.

Moonlight was a worthy winner, and Chazelle was not too upset having already taken home the Best Director award.

Leo finally gets his Oscar

Nominated four times without success, Leonardo DiCaprio quickly became a great source of amusement on the internet, especially after his surprise loss to Matthew McConaughey in 2014.

Many would argue that he didn’t deserve the Best Actor award for his wholly committed physical performance in The Revenant, and he has certainly been better in other roles (Catch Me If You Can for starters) but there was undoubtedly a palpable sense of relief when he finally won, with it finally feeling like recognition for years of outstanding performances.

The Little Film that Could

Back in 2007, the ridiculously charming Little Miss Sunshine surprised us all when it picked up not one, but two Oscars.

Alan Arkin beat bookies favourite Eddie Murphy, and the film also take home the award for Best Original Screenplay – against heavy hitters Babel, The Queen and Letters from Iwo Jima.

A genuine word-of-mouth success, this feel-good bittersweet movie became the must-see film of the awards season and ended up grossing almost ten times its budget.

The French film that shocked us all

Although it created legions of vocal fans at every festival where it screened whilst on the road to the Oscars, it’s still hard to fathom that The Artist took home the awards for Best Picture and Best Actor in 2012.

A French, black and white, near-silent film took on the big hitters The Help, War Horse, Moneyball and The Tree of Life to take home the top award; and the ludicrously charming Jean Dujardin beat Hollywood royalty Brad Pitt and George Clooney to win his award.

Fourteenth time's the charm

If you think of some of the most beautifully photographed films of the past 40 years, then the chances are that a bunch of them have been the incredible work of Roger Deakins.

After a lifetime of work, it felt only right that the legendary cinematography was given an Oscar – having been nominated 13 times without a win. Now that’s real hardship, Leo!

Picking up Best Cinematography in 2018 for Blade Runner 2049, he then followed it up with a win for the stunning 1917 at the 2020 awards.

All Hail the Queen

Going into the 2019 awards, the Best Actress was a very strong category with nominees including Lady Gaga for A Star is Born, Melissa McCarthy for Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Olivia Colman for The Favourite, and Yalitza Aparicio for Roma.

The bookies favourite was the fantastic Glenn Close for her work in The Wife, so it was a big surprise when Olivia was announced as the winner – especially to the actress herself who seemed genuinely shocked at the result. Her speech was wonderful, full of praise for her other actors and with a large emphasis on getting drunk after the ceremony.

The first rap song to win an Oscar

Three 6 Mafia was the big shock winner back at the 2006 ceremony, winning the Best Original Song award for ‘It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp’, making it the first ever rap song to win an Oscar.

Beating a song from Crash plus a country tune from living saint Dolly Parton, we highly recommend tracking down the moment they won on YouTube. From Queen Latifah’s obvious delight, Dolly’s genuine joy at their win and the late John Singleton giving a standing ovation, it’s a true triumph.

Halle Berry makes history

A landmark moment of the Oscars and film industry in general was when Halle Berry became the first woman of colour to win the Best Actress award in 2002 for her moving performance in Monster’s Ball. 

Taking to the stage in a state of shock having beaten Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Sissy Spacek and Reneé Zellweger for the award, her emotional speech paid tribute to the inspirational women who paved the way for her but didn’t get their dues – stars like Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne and Diahann Carroll.

The real life fairy tale

The 2013 ceremony saw a truly joyous moment when the fantastic Searching for Sugar Man deservedly picked up the win for Best Documentary.

Telling the story of two South Africans searching for legendary musician Sixto Rodriguez who was hugely popular in the 1970s before disappearing, the film then generated its own real life fairy tale. Stop reading now if you haven’t seen the film because here’s a spoiler – having been found labouring in Detroit, thanks to the Oscar success and the international acclaim Sixto was able to begin touring again with sold out shows across the globe.

The last nice thing to happen before the pandemic

We end with perhaps the last nice thing to happen before the pandemic, with Parasite taking home four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director at the 2020 awards.

Although it seems like a lifetime ago, the wins for Parasite still feels incredible. The first foreign language film to win Best Picture, Parasite is a delicious mix of thriller, horror and uproarious social satire. Its victories were heartily welcomed by all, and Bong Joon Ho’s brilliant translator became universally adored!