Ariana DeBose Wins First Oscar for West Side Story
(© Niko Tavernise)
Ariana DeBose has won her first Oscar for her performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg's adaptation of the classic musical West Side Story.
DeBose took home the Academy Award in the Best Supporting Actress category 60 years after her predecessor in the role, Rita Moreno, earned the statue herself. Leading up to the Oscar, DeBose won the BAFTA, Golden Globe, SAG, Critics' Choice, and various other critics' association awards for her performance.
She is only the second Latina to win an Oscar, once again following Moreno, and the first openly queer actor to win, as well.
TheaterMania's review of West Side Story called DeBose, "powerful, sexy, and practically unstoppable." Written by Tony Kushner and directed by Spielberg, West Side Story has music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents.
Watch her perform "America" below:
