Critics’ Choice Awards 2022 WINNERS: Will Smith earns Best Actor for King Richard

Will Smith thought winning was so nice that he did it twice as he earned Best Actor at the 2022 Critics’ Choice Awards just hours after winning the same prize at the BAFTA Awards earlier in the night.

The  53-year-old actor was recognized for his work in King Richard as he gave a heartfelt thank you to tennis superstar sisters Venus and Serena Williams.

He beat out  top stars including: Nicolas Cage – Pig, Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog, Peter Dinklage – Cyrano, Andrew Garfield – tick, tick…Boom!, and Denzel Washington – The Tragedy of Macbeth.

During his acceptance speech, Will – who played their father and coach Richard Williams – said: ‘I am here tonight with Venus and Serena, and their sister.  And I really just want to say to all of you, thank you for entrusting me with your story. 

‘What you were able to do and what your family was able to do inspired everyone in this room, everyone in this country, and everyone around the world. You all define the American dream. You represent the best of what we all hope this world and this country can be.’

The film is a look at how tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams became who they are after the coaching from their father Richard Williams.

Ariana DeBose and Troy Kotsur kept their winning ways going during award season – including earning two earlier in the night at the BAFTA Awards – as they each won again at the Critics’ Choice Awards 2022 on Sunday night.

The talented thespians each took home their second awards of the night in the Best Supporting Actor and Actress categories as they were seen via satellite from London.

DeBose, 31, won for West Side Story as she beat out heavy competition including Caitríona Balfe – Belfast, Ann Dowd – Mass, Kirsten Dunst – The Power of the Dog, Aunjanue Ellis – King Richard, and Rita Moreno – West Side Story.

 The actress ended her speech with an inspiring message as she said: ‘You know, the last thing I’m going to say, because you never know who is watching, to all young people, it doesn’t matter how you identify who you are, you are unique, you are talented, you are seen, you are valued, you are loved, and you matter. Please don’t ever forget that. Thank you so much.’

Ariana played the iconic character of Anita in the Steven Spielberg directed film which was an adaptation of the 1957 musical, West Side Story explores forbidden love and the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. 

 Kotsur, 53, – who won for CODA – earned the win over Jamie Dornan – Belfast, Ciarán Hinds – Belfast, Jared Leto – House of Gucci, J.K. Simmons – Being the Ricardos, and Kodi Smit-McPhee – The Power of the Dog. 

The deaf actor was mystified that he had earned a similar honor at the BAFTA Awards hours earlier as he said via interpreter: ‘I just — I can’t believe it that this is happening the same night, two birds with one stone, you know what I mean?

‘BAFTAs earlier tonight and critics choice. Oh, my god. I’m not there in Los Angeles but my spirit is there with you all and your spirit is with us in London so I want to thank all of you. Thank you, all the members of the critics choice association for really recognizing my work and the positive message that has really brought us all together tonight to lead me to be here on this stage and I send you my heart and my love. Thank you so much. Love you all.’

The critically-acclaimed movie is centered around a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) named Ruby (played by Emilia Jones) who is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family’s fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music by wanting to go to Berklee College of Music and her fear of abandoning her parents. 

White Lotus stars Murray Bartlett and Jennifer Coolidge won Best Supporting Actor and Actress in a Limited Series or Movie made for Television for the HBO series at the star-studded event.

Australian actor Bartlett, 50, was the first to take home the gong as he beat out competition including  Zach Gilford – Midnight Mass (Netflix), William Jackson Harper – The Underground Railroad (Amazon Prime Video), Evan Peters – Mare of Easttown (HBO), Christian Slater – Dr. Death (Peacock), and Courtney B. Vance – Genius: Aretha (National Geographic).

During his acceptance speech, the talented actor went on to thank creator, writer, and director Mike White – who he referred to as ‘mastermind – as he said: ‘Mike, you are a genius and I adore you. 

‘I thank you for taking a giant leap of faith on me on this and for making it so fun. I want to call out to the amazing cast of White Lotus. This is a truly ensemble show and I share this with them. I want to thank our amazing producers and our credible crew, all our people at HBO for your incredible, wholehearted support, especially for continuing to champion creative geniuses like Mike White.’ 

Shortly thereafter it was acting veteran Coolidge, 60, who beat out Kaitlyn Dever – Dopesick (Hulu), Kathryn Hahn – WandaVision (Disney+), Melissa McCarthy – Nine Perfect Strangers (Hulu), Julianne Nicholson – Mare of Easttown (HBO), and Jean Smart – Mare of Easttown (HBO). 

Coolidge was not in attendance to accept the honor in person. 

The 27th annual awards show were co-hosted by Taye Diggs and Nicole Byer and will take place at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, California

Nominations for the event were announced back in December as Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story and Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast led the pack as they both scored 11 nominations each.

Meanwhile, Lady Gaga earned another nomination for her role in House of Gucci, landing in the Best Actress category, strengthening her chances at bagging another Oscar nod. 

In addition to Best Picture, Belfast racked up several acting nominations including Best Supporting Actor nods for both Jamie Dornan and Ciarán Hinds. 

Best Supporting Actress for Caitríona Balfe, Best Young Actor/Actress for Jude Hill, and Best Acting Ensemble, while Kenneth Branagh could take home both the Best Director and Best Original Screenplay trophies.

Belfast also earned nominations for Haris Zambarloukos for Best Cinematography, Jim Clay and Claire Nia Richards for Best Production Design, and Úna Ní Dhonghaíle for Best Editing. 

Steven Spielberg received a Best Director nomination for his Best Picture contender West Side Story.  

Two of the film’s standout performers, Ariana DeBose and Rita Moreno, will be vying for Best Supporting Actress, while Rachel Zegler is up for Best Young Actor/Actress.

West Side Story also garnered a nomination for Best Acting Ensemble, and nods for Tony Kushner for Best Adapted Screenplay, Janusz Kaminski for Best Cinematography, Adam Stockhausen and Rena DeAngelo for Best Production Design, Sarah Broshar and Michael Kahn for Best Editing, and Paul Tazewell for Best Costume Design. 

The list of list Picture hopefuls featured several more films with impressive nomination counts, including Dune and The Power of the Dog which picked up ten each.

Licorice Pizza and Nightmare Alley collected eight nominations apiece, followed by King Richard and Don’t Look Up, each with six. Rounding out the Best Picture nominees are CODA and ‘tick, tick…Boom!’

The Critics Choice Awards were originally scheduled to occur January 9 but were postponed due to the surge in COVID-19 cases due to the omicron variant.

The Critics Choice Association said in a statement on January 13 they would be moving forward with an in-person event and working with the Los Angeles County Public Health Department ‘to ensure that the proper COVID-19 protocols to keep all attendees safe and comfortable will be in place’ by March 13.

‘Following the science and tracking the course of the Omicron variant, we believe that March 13th will be the right day to properly honor the finest achievements in film and television during the past year,’ CCA CEO Joey Berlin said in the statement.

‘We could have proceeded with our original January 9th date with limited attendance or switched to a virtual awards show like we did last year, but we decided to wait until we could safely gather in person and truly celebrate with the creative community, industry leaders and our CCA members all together in one beautiful setting for all the world to see.’

 The new date conflicts with another major awards show, the BAFTAS, which is also set to take place March 13.

According to Variety sources, the CCAs and BAFTAs have been in communication over the issue and have a mutual understanding amongst one another.