“Believe in yourself”: Da’Vine Joy Randoph hopes her Oscar win for ‘The Holdovers’ inspires others

At the Oscars on Sunday night, Da’Vine Joy Randolph continued her winning ways for her performance in The Holdovers.

As she accepted her Best Supporting Actress trophy, a visibly moved Randolph spoke of those who supported her career early on and the challenges of being in an industry where too many people aren’t willing to take a chance on you.

Backstage, a “grateful” Randolph tried to inspire the next generation of actors. “You have to fortify yourself in a way that some people never, ever have to do,” the performer explained.

“I would say, also … just keep yourself grounded, surrounded by people who care and love you and stay close to what’s real. And again, I’m just very adamant about, it would not be on your heart if you weren’t meant to do it,” she advised. “And I know it can be challenging to wait that wait. But when it happens, it’s a full circle moment, and, you’ll know it was worth it.”

She also said, “I think you’d be selling yourself short if you make it about the awards. It’s too hard of a career.”

Da’Vine expressed, “The beautiful thing and the hard thing about being an actor is that it requires you to have resilience and self-confidence, and belief in yourself, when no one else does. When you’re constantly getting no’s and you’re saying, ‘Nope, I’m going to keep going.'”

She concluded, “So actually, in many ways where that can challenge mental health” but offers that acting “also can strengthen it, because you have to fortify yourself in a way that some people never, ever have to do.”

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