Timothee Chalamet won best actor at the Critics Choice Awards for Marty Supreme, boosting his Oscars campaign. Photo / Getty Images
Timothee Chalamet won best actor at the Critics Choice Awards for Marty Supreme, boosting his Oscars campaign. Photo / Getty Images
Timothée Chalamet’s Oscars campaign earned a major boost yesterday as he scooped the best actor prize for Marty Supreme at the Critics Choice Awards, the first major gala of this year’s Hollywood awards season.
He defeated rival Leonardo DiCaprio, whose raucous political thriller One Battle After Another took the night’stop prize for best picture, as well as best director and best adapted screenplay for Paul Thomas Anderson.
In Marty Supreme, Chalamet plays a 1950s table tennis champion consumed by grand ambitions.
Loosely based on a true story, and benefiting from the Franco-American actor’s unique viral campaign, the film directed by Josh Safdie (Uncut Gems) has become an unlikely global hit.
“Josh, you made a story about a flawed man with a relatable dream,” said Chalamet.
“And you didn’t preach to the audience about what’s right and wrong, and I think we should all be telling stories like that, so thank you for this dream.”
The movie is loosely based on the life of table tennis star Marty Reisman, a man driven by the belief that he can achieve fame and fortune through a sport little known in the United States.
Chalamet – the Dune superstar and two-time Oscar nominee who recently portrayed Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown – rigorously trained in table tennis for the role.
Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme (2025). Photo / IMDb, Marty Supreme (2025) by A24
The 30-year-old has in the past made no secret of his ambitions to win multiple Academy Awards, and will now be the frontrunner for the ceremony on March 15.
Oscars momentum
The awards bestowed by North America’s largest critics’ group could give movie campaigns much-needed extra momentum as Oscars voting nears.
This year, it took the coveted first weekend of awards season usually occupied by the Golden Globes, which will be held in Beverly Hills next weekend.
Jessie Buckley won Best Actress for her tragic role as the wife of William Shakespeare in period drama Hamnet.
Jessie Buckley, winner of the Best Actress Award for Hamnet. Photo / Getty Images
Jacob Elordi won Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the Monster in Frankenstein, which also won three technical awards, while Amy Madigan won Supporting Actress for a villainous turn in horror flick Weapons.
Netflix’s global mega-hit musical KPop Demon Hunters won Best Animated Feature and Best Song.
Sinners, a period horror film also seen as a major contender for many of this season’s top prizes, had to settle for best original screenplay, young actor, score, and casting and ensemble.
Delroy Lindo, Michael B. Jordan, Francine Maisler, Wunmi Mosaku, Miles Caton and Omar Benson Miller win the Critics Choice Award for Best Casting and Ensemble for Sinners at the 31st Annual Critics Choice Awards. Photo / Getty Images
Among the television prizes, hospital saga The Pitt won best drama, Hollywood satire The Studio won best comedy, and teen murder drama Adolescence won best limited series.
Best talk show winner Jimmy Kimmel joked about his spat with US President Donald Trump last year, which resulted in the late-night host being briefly taken off the air.
“Thank you, Mr President, for all the many ridiculous things you do each and every day,” said Kimmel.
“A Fifa Peace Prize would have been better but this is nice too,” Kimmel joked.
Jimmy Kimmel thanks US President Donald Trump in his speech after winning the Critics Choice Award for Best Talk Show Award for Jimmy Kimmel Live! at the 31st Annual Critics Choice Awards. Photo / Getty Images
In the show’s opening monologue, host Chelsea Handler paid tribute to the late Rob Reiner, “the nicest guy in Hollywood”.
The beloved When Harry Met Sally director and his wife Michele were found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home last month.
“Anyone who ever spent time with Rob Reiner knows that the minute that you met him, he felt like an old friend,” she said, to emotional applause from the gathered A-listers and critics.
