Brendan Fraser took the ‘Best Actor’ award at the Critics Choice Awards and gave a speech that stole the night
The 2023 Critics Choice Awards ceremony took place on January 15 and without a doubt we can say that the star of the night was Brendan Fraser. The renowned actor is one of the favorites to sweep the awards this season for his work in “The Whale.” Thus, at this ceremony, Fraser was crowned the winner for Best Actor and climbed to the podium after years of disappearing from show business. Yo
In his youth, Brendan Fraser positioned himself as one of the highest grossing actors in Hollywood during the 90’s. However, he suddenly disappeared from the screens and for many years the world did not hear from him. It was until 2018 that in an interview with CQ, the actor decided to break the silence and say the reason why he had withdrawn. During one of the HFPA parties, President Philip Berk approached Fraser and inappropriately touched him.
The actor confesses that he was paralyzed by panic but managed to remove Berk’s hand:
“I felt sick. I felt like a little kid. I felt like there was a lump in my throat. I thought I was going to cry. I ran out, went home and told my wife what had happened. It felt like invisible paint had been poured over me,” she stated.
Despite the fact that the actor and his representatives only apologized to Berk, the organization declined to conduct an investigation, apologizing, saying that the journalist’s actions were just a joke. So it was that Brendan’s case was shelved for years.
It was not until 2022 that, before the Golden Globes ceremony that year, Fraser decided to talk about the matter again, as he stressed that he would not attend a ceremony preceded by a stalker.
It is for this very reason that the speech he gave when he won the award for Best Actor at the Critic Choice Awards was so moving. Brendan Fraser went up to the podium to receive the award and with a broken voice thanked the film’s director, Darren Aronofsky, for believing in him for the lead role:
“I was lost in the desert. I probably should have left a trail of breadcrumbs, but you found me and, like all the best directors, you just showed me where to go to get to where I needed to be,” he began.
Photo: Excelsior
Fraser’s emotion seeped through with every word of thanks and he ended his speech with an inspiring sentence, referencing his own and his character’s overcoming in “The Whale”: “If you have the strength to stand up and go to the light, good things will happen,” he concluded, receiving a standing ovation.