Alicia Vikander Wins Best Supporting Actress Oscar

In one of the night's most competitive categories, Alicia Vikander won the 2016 Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Danish Girl. Kate Winslet emerged as the early frontrunner after bringing home a Golden Globe and a BAFTA — but she was bested by Vikander at the SAG Awards and the same thing happened at the Oscars. It's no secret that the Academy can't get enough of Winslet — this marked her seventh nomination since 1995, when she received her first Best Supporting Actress nomination at age 20 for her role in Sense and Sensibility. But, Vikander quickly gained critical acclaim for this breakout role and, as The Los Angeles Times pointed out earlier this week, the Supporting Actress category often favors ingenues.

Either way, I think Winslet will be a happy attendee tonight as long as her pal Leo brings home an Oscar — she's made no secret of the fact that she's really, really rooting for him. Like every other 2016 Oscar category, the Best Supporting Actress competition had a serious diversity problem — but I'll try to look on the bright side that Vikander won for playing the wife of a transgender woman. Plus, she was an incredibly gracious and grateful winner and it was great to see such humility during her acceptance speech. It's always fun to see winners who appear genuinely surprised and thrilled.

Vikander, 27, had an impressive year between her roles in Ex Machina and The Danish Girl. She has an amazing career ahead of her and her Oscar win proves that she's a force to be reckoned with — and I'm glad that Vikander won for such an important film that shed light on the very real issues faced by the LBGTQ community and their loved ones.