Kiwi actress Melanie Lynskey's 'perfect' Critics Choice Awards speech

New Zealand's Melanie Lynskey has been praised for her "perfect" speech as she accepted the award for Best Actress at the Critics Choice Awards today. Photo / Getty Images

Melanie Lynskey is winning hearts across the internet for her "perfect" acceptance speech after taking home the Critics Choice Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series.

Lauded for her role as "Shauna", one of the survivors of a plane crash in the psychological horror series, Yellowjackets, Lynskey is seen approaching the podium with hesitation at the awards ceremony which took place in Los Angeles on Sunday night local time (12 noon NZT).

"Um, okay, sorry, I'm going to be really bad," Lynskey tells the rapturous audience. "I really wasn't expecting this, I'm going to be really bad at this speech."

"There's so many amazing women in this category ... I can't believe I'm mentioned alongside you," says the New Plymouth-born actress, who first found fame in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures, starring alongside Kate Winslet.

After heaping praise upon her co-stars, telling them they did "70 per cent of the work for me" she turns to the camera and shares that she thinks she's "going to faint. But I hope I don't."

She thanks her team for "letting me be exactly as I am. Not asking me to change anything or do anything different. It means a lot, it's meaningful," she says, likely alluding to her recent Rolling Stones interview where she revealed she had been subjected to criticism about her weight from a member of the production team.

And amid the applause she peppers her speech with light-hearted humour, thanking her agent, Rhonda Price, and sharing that "she believes in me. She's made about zero dollars from me for a long time ... it's true. Sorry Rhonda," she says with a shrug before noticing the tele-prompter and blurting out, "Please wrap it up. yes, exactly, I know. I'm forgetting everything."

But she remembers to thank her husband, Jason Ritter, "the love of my life. The greatest support ..."

Melanie Lynskey with her husband Jason Ritter. Photo / Getty Images

And she thanks her daughter before telling the audience "the most important person I think I have to thank is my nanny, Sally, I love her. She's an absolute angel. She's with my child and I know my child is safe and taken care of and she allows me to go and do my work. Thank you, Sally, I love you so much," she concludes before looking around quickly, saying, "okay" and ducking away from the podium as the audience erupts with applause.

One Twitter user shared Lynskey's speech and tweeted: "And what a perfect speech! Honestly we need to be giving more awards to Melanie Lynskey so we can get more of this."

Lynskey wasn't the only Kiwi to take home a Critics Choice Award today.

Kiwi director Jane Campion won the coveted award for Best Director for her film The Power of the Dog at the Awards today.

Fittingly presented the award by fellow Kiwi film-maker Taika Waititi, Campion's Western-style psychological drama also won Best Picture as well as awards for its cinematography and Campion's screenplay adaptation.

Earlier today, the director took out the coveted Bafta Awards for Best Film and Best Director.