The Whale star broke down in tears after receiving the best actor award at the Critics Choice Awards.
In the movie, Fraser played the character of a 600-pound depressed gay teacher named Charlie, who tries to reconnect with her estranged teen daughter.
The 53-year-old won the best actor award at the Critics Choice Awards after beating Tom Cruise for Top Gun: Maverick,Colin Farrell for The Banshees of Inisherin,Paul Mescal for Aftersun, Austin Butlerfor Elvis,and Bill Nighy for Living.
After receiving the awards, the legendary actor became emotional while delivering his acceptance speech.
“I was in the wilderness. And I probably should have left a trail of breadcrumbs. But you found me,” Fraser said to the movie’s director, Darren Aronofsky.
“If you – like a guy like Charlie, who I played in this movie – in any way struggle with obesity, or you just feel like you’re in a dark sea, I want you to know that if you too can have the strength to just get to your feet and go to the light, good things will happen,” he said while receiving a standing ovation from the audience.
“This movie, The Whale, is about love. It’s about redemption. It’s about finding the light in a dark place,” he added.
“And I’m so lucky to have worked with an ensemble that is incredible,” he said while giving a shout-out to his fellow actors, Sadie Sink and Hong Chau.
“Took me 32 years to get here,” he said in a trembling voice.
The Whale is Brendon’s first movie, where he played the main character after a long hiatus of almost ten years.
After rising to fame in the mid of the 1990s and enjoying stardom throughout the 2000s, the actor suddenly disappeared from the limelight by the end of the decade.
There were many factors involved in Fraser’s downhill, one of the majors was his messy divorce from his wife, Afton Smith.
Brendan married Afton in 1993 after falling for her at a Barbeque party at Winona Ryder’s house. The now ex-couple has three children together – Griffin Arthur, 18, Holden Fletcher, 16, and Leland Francis, 15.
Fraser and Smith worked together in a movie called, ‘George of the Jungle’ in 1997; that was the only project they worked together
After their divorce was finalized, Smith took the custody of their three kids from court and Brendon was asked to pay a heavy amount of $900, 00 on a yearly basis – the divorce deeply affected The Mummy actor both emotionally and financially.
During the same time, while Brendan decided to work hard in his career, he suffered a series of physical injuries due to the stunts he performed in his films.
The Whale actor didn’t just struggle with his failed marriage and health issues but also suffered a great deal mentally.
The Bedazzled actor also received a six-minute-long standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival last year in September in Italy.
The Mummy star teared up when he received a lengthy standing ovation from the audience.
“Fraser sobbed throughout the six-minute standing ovation, which will likely put him at the forefront of this year’s best actor Oscars race,” Vanity Fair wrote.
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Sources: BBC – Vanity Fair
