Oscars 2025: Adrien Brody bags the Best Actor Award for The Brutalist

Adrien Brody has won his second Academy Award for Best Actor at the 97th Oscars in 2025. He won for playing the lead role in The Brutalist. This is a big deal because it's been 22 years since his first win for The Pianist in 2003.

In The Brutalist, Brody plays László Tóth, a Hungarian architect who lived through the Holocaust and wants to change American buildings. His acting is powerful and full of feeling, and people have talked a lot about how good it is.

When he went on stage to accept his award, he talked about history and the need to deal with problems in society. His win is a big moment for him, coming back to the Oscars stage after such a long time.

He said:

“I’m here once again to represent the lingering traumas and the repercussions of war and systematic oppression, of antisemitism and racism. I pray for a healthier and a happier and a more inclusive world.”

With belief in his voice, Adrien Brody's words filled the Dolby Theatre.

Winning another Best Actor Oscar puts him in an exclusive club. This group includes legends like Marlon Brando, Tom Hanks, and Anthony Hopkins.

The Brutalist is a film of vision and struggle

The Brutalist, directed by Brady Corbet, is an epic movie set in postwar America. It's filmed in VistaVision, which makes it look big and impressive. The story is about László Tóth, an architect who leaves Europe after the Holocaust. He's looking for a place where he can be free to make art and find peace.

His buildings are not like what people are used to. They show what it's like for artists who move to a new country. Adrien Brody plays László. Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce are in the movie too. They all do a great job.

People at the BAFTA Awards talked about how good the movie looks, especially the buildings and settings from the mid-1900s.

When Adrien Brody spoke at the BAFTA Awards in February, he said:

“It speaks to the need for all of us to share in the responsibility of how we want others to be treated and how we want to be treated by others.”

Adrien Brody’s career and its legacy

Adrien Brody is known for playing characters that change who he is in his movies. This is like what he did in The Pianist, which is a big part of why people think he's such a good actor. He won the Best Actor award this year at the Oscars against Timothée Chalamet from A Complete Unknown, Colman Domingo from Sing Sing, Ralph Fiennes from Conclave, and Sebastian Stan from The Apprentice.

It's been 22 years since he last won a Best Actor award at the Oscars, which is the second longest time ever. The longest time was 29 years for Anthony Hopkins, who won for The Silence of the Lambs and The Father.

Adrien Brody has been in a lot of good movies, like The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Darjeeling Limited, and Midnight in Paris. But it's where he shows characters dealing with tough times and being strong, like in The Pianist and now The Brutalist, that people remember the most.