Will Smith is finally an Oscar winner.
The King Richard star won the award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for portraying Venus and Serena Williams' father during tonight's 2022 Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on March 27.
Smith was nominated against an impressive list of talents including Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog), Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick...Boom!) and Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth).
Smith got emotional during his acceptance speech and apologized after he shocked audiences and viewers by slapping Chris Rock for making a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith earlier during the show.
"I want to apologize to the Academy, I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees," Smith said with tears in his eyes. "This is a beautiful moment and I'm not crying for winning an award, it's not about winning an award for me."
"Art imitates life, I look like the crazy father," he added, as some in the audience laughed. "Love will make you do crazy things."
He said, "I know to be able to do what we do you gotta be able to take abuse, you gotta be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business you gotta have people disrespecting you and you gotta pretend that that's OK...Denzel [Washington] said to me a few minutes ago, 'At your highest moment, be careful, that's when the devil comes for you.'
"I want to say thank you to Venus and Serena and the entire Williams family for entrusting me with your story. That's what I want to do. I want to be an ambassador of that kind of care and love and concern."
Continuing to relate to his King Richard character, Smith said, "Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family. In this time in my life, in this moment I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world. Making this film, I got to protect Aunjanue Ellis who is one the most strongest, most delicate people I've ever met. I got to protect Saniyya and Demi, the two actresses that play Venus and Serena...I'm being called on in my life to love people and to protect people."
Smith concluded, "I wanna be a vessel of love. I wanna say thank you to Venus and Serena, I just hope they didn't see that on TV."
See the full list of 2022 Oscar winners below.
Belfast
WINNER: Coda
Don't Look Up
Drive My Car
Dune
Licorice Pizza
King Richard
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story
Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car
Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
WINNER: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Steven Spielberg, West Side Story
Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
Andrew Garfield, Tick, Tick...Boom!
WINNER: Will Smith, King Richard
Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Ciaran Hinds, Belfast
WINNER: Troy Kotsur, Coda
Jesse Plemons, The Power of the Dog
J.K. Simmons, Being the Ricardos
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog
WINNER: Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Penélope Cruz, Parallel Mothers
Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos
Kristen Stewart, Spencer
Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
WINNER: Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Judi Dench, Belfast
Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard
WINNER: Encanto
Flee
Luca
The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Raya and the Last Dragon
WINNER: Greig Fraser, Dune
Dan Laustsen, Nightmare Alley
Ari Wegner, The Power of the Dog
Bruno Delbonnel, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Janusz Kaminski, West Side Story
WINNER: Jenny Beavan, Cruella
Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran, Cyrano
Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan, Dune
Luis Sequeira, Nightmare Alley
Paul Tazewell, West Side Story
Ascension
Attica
Flee
WINNER: Summer of Soul (...Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Writing With Fire
Audible
Lead Me Home
WINNER: The Queen of Basketball
Three Songs for Benazir
When We Were Bullies
Don't Look Up
WINNER: Dune
King Richard
The Power of the Dog
Tick, Tick...Boom!
WINNER: Drive My Car
Flee
The Hand of God
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
The Worst Person in the World
Coming 2 America
Cruella
Dune
WINNER: The Eyes of Tammy Faye
House of Gucci
"Be Alive," King Richard
"Dos Oruguitas," Encanto
"Down to Joy," Belfast
WINNER: "No Time to Die," No Time to Die
"Somehow You Do," Four Good Days
Nicholas Britell, Don't Look Up
WINNER: Hans Zimmer, Dune
Germaine Franco, Encanto
Alberto Iglesias, Parallel Mothers
Jonny Greenwood, The Power of the Dog
WINNER: Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story
Affairs of the Art
Bestia
Boxballet
Robin Robin
WINNER: The Windshield Wiper
Ala Kachuu-Take and Run
The Dress
WINNER: The Long Goodbye
On My Mind
Please Hold
Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather, Niv Adiri, Belfast
WINNER: Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hempbill, Ron Bartlett, Dune
Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey, Mark Taylor, No Time to Die
Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie, Tara Webb, The Power of the Dog
Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson, Shawn Murphy, West Side Story
WINNER: Dune
Free Guy
No Time to Die
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home
WINNER: Coda
Drive My Car
Dune
The Lost Daughter
The Power of the Dog
WINNER: Belfast
Don't Look Up
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
The Worst Person in the World
