Cinephiles across the globe witnessed magic unfolding on their screens as they came together to celebrate the prestigious 94th Academy Awards® on Sunday night 27^th March 2022 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, USA.  

Honouring the best of talents and films, for the first time since the 2018 ceremony, the show was hosted in person with Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes who brought their sharp wit and fun energy to the night.

From some long-awaited wins to some truly touching acceptance speeches, here are all the best highlights from Oscar 2022 and past ceremonies. And, no we haven’t added the Will Smith episode, as we all know about it and talking about it too. So here’s what you really may not know.

2022: Marked many firsts 

Making a historic win, Troy Kosture, became the first deaf actor to ever win an Academy Award. Winning the Best Supporting Actor for ‘Coda’, Troy dedicated his win to the specially-abled community and the Coda community saying, “this is our moment.” Kotsur received a standing ovation from the audience, with many waving the sign for applause in recognition of his historic win.  

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s infectious song We Don’t Talk About Bruno stole the show. It brought Encanto stars for the first time to perform the hit number — along with Megan Thee Stallion, Becky G and Luis Despacito Fonsi for some extra special Oscar flair. “It’s been played more times than ‘Happy Birthday,’” joked John Leguizamo, who plays the titular Bruno, as he presented the performance. 

2021: 93rd Academy Awards® gave us three historic moments 

Chloé Zhao became the first Chinese woman to be awarded Best Director for her work on ‘Nomadland’, which also took Best Picture. ‘Nomadland’ was only the second film directed by a woman to be named Best Picture. Two of the stylists behind Ma Rainey's Black Bottom became the first-ever Black winners in the Makeup and Hair category. And Minari's Yuh-Jung Youn became the first Korean and only the second Asian woman to win Best Supporting Actress — 63 years after Miyoshi Umeki's award for ‘Sayonara’. 

2020: Eminem’s performance  

The 92nd Academy Award®, the last one before the pandemic, had lots of memorable moments including Parasite's wins and Brad Pitt's first Oscar but the biggest moment was when Eminem returned to the stage to perform Lose Yourself, 18 years after the rap won the Oscar® for Best Original Song. 

2017:  ‘La La Land’ bags Best picture. Oops, it’s a mistake 

The Best Picture announcement is one of the most nerve-wracking moments of the glitzy night. But in 2017, it became even more exciting when presenter Warren Beatty read out the wrong contender ‘La La Land’. Only once the film's cast and crew had arrived on stage was the error corrected and ‘Moonlight’ was awarded for best picture. 

2016: Leonardo De Caprio finally wins an Oscar® 

After getting nominated thrice in 2005, 2007 and 2016 and not winning despite astounding performances, Leonardo DiCaprio became a beloved topic for meme factories. However, Leonardo DiCaprio broke the stalemate and finally won Best Actor for ‘The Revenant’ with a standing ovation from his peers. 

2014: Ellen’s power selfie

In 2014, Ellen DeGeneres used her hosting gig at the Oscars to attempt to break the Internet with one very star-studded selfie. With a photo featuring Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Lupita Nyong'o, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, among others, she managed to do it. The group photo became the most retweeted photo in Twitter history (in 2014) within an hour.  

2009: India shines at Oscars® 

The 81st Academy Awards will always hold a special place in Indian hearts. Music maestro, AR Rahman won two Oscars® - one for the original score and another for the song Jai Ho from Danny Boyle's ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.  ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ also fetched renowned lyrist Gulzar an Oscar® for the Best Original Song – Jai Ho. The year 2009 was also very lucky for sound designer Resul Pookutty, who won an Oscar® for Best Sound Mixing for his work on Slumdog Millionaire at the 81st Academy Awards®.

2002, Halle Berry’s Ground-Breaking win 

It was pure euphoria for Halle Berry when she won Best Actress for ‘Monster's Ball’ in 2003, becoming the first black woman in history to do so. After her name was read out, she immediately burst into tears, taking the stage to deliver one of the ceremony's best-remembered acceptance speeches. 

Courtesy: Disney+Hotstar