Adrien Brody wins best actor for ‘The Brutalist,’ his second Oscar

LOS ANGELES: Adrien Brody won his second best actor Oscar on Sunday for playing a Jeweish immigrant architect who chases the American dream in the epic postwar drama “The Brutalist.”

The 51-year-old New York City native had previously won for “The Pianist,” when he became the youngest best actor winner at age 29.

“Acting is a very fragile profession,” Brody said. “No matter where you are in your career, it can all go away. I think what makes this most special is the awareness of that.”

Brody joins an elite group of multiple winners in this category that includes Daniel Day-Lewis, Tom Hanks, Anthony Hopkins, Jack Nicholson and Spencer Tracy.

Brody has said his mother escaped from Hungary and moved across the Atlantic, echoing the journey of the character he plays, a modernist architect named Laszlo Toth.

“I understand a great deal about the repercussions of that on her life and her work as an artist,” he told reporters at the Venice Film Festival. Brody’s mother is the celebrated photographer Sylvia Plachy.

Brody, whose acting credits include numerous roles in Wes Anderson movies, has worked with a who’s who of prestige directors including Woody Allen, Peter Jackson, Spike Lee, Barry Levinson, Terrence Malick, Roman Polanski and Steven Soderbergh.

Zoe Saldana was named best supporting actress for her role as the fixer for a Mexican drug lord in “Emilia Perez,” a Spanish-language musical released on Netflix.

The movie, which also won best original song for ‘El Mal,’ was a favorite for best picture earlier this year. Its chances dwindled when offensive social media posts surfaced from star Karla Sofia Gascon.

The actress, the first openly transgender person nominated for an acting Oscar, disappeared from the awards circuit but attended Sunday’s ceremony.

Kieran Culkin received the best supporting actor award for playing one of two cousins who travel to Poland to study their family’s roots in “A Real Pain.”

Culkin thanked his wife and mother of his two children, Jazz Charton, and said he had recently told her he wanted a total of four kids. Culkin said she joked she would agree if he won an Oscar. “Let’s get cracking on those kids!” Culkin said to his wife from the stage.

Winners of the gold Oscar statuettes are chosen by the roughly 11,000 actors, producers, directors and film craftspeople who make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.