Cillian Murphy wins the Oscar for Best Actor 2024 for Oppenheimer

Cillian Murphy has become one of the stand-out actors of his generation and now he finally has an Academy Award statuette to prove it. It was Oppenheimer’s night at the 2024 Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, with the Irishman picking up one of the film’s seven awards for Best Actor.

Murphy wins Best Actor after first nomination

You could say it was inevitable. The role of Julius Robert Oppenheimer in the film christened with the physicist’s surname may be the biggest Murphy ever takes on. The 47-year-old was presented with the difficult task of portraying a controversial, complicated character by director Christopher Nolan, who he had previously worked with on five other movies.

But the Peaky Blinders star pulled it off in spectacular fashion, to the extent that he has earned the biggest acting prize of them all, capping a sensational evening for the Oppenheimer crew in LA.

Murphy had never before been nominated for an Oscar, which means he is now one for one. The Irish actor had already won a BAFTA and a Golden Globe for playing the same role, which led to him being seen as the favourite to take home his first statuette. And those predictions were accurate, with Oppenheimer becoming Murphy’s crowing movie glory - so far - after starring roles in Dunkirk, Inception, and the Batman Dark Knight triology, among others.

Oppenheimer: everything you need to know

Original title: Oppenheimer

Duration: 180 minutes

Country: United States

Direction: Christopher Nolan

Screenplay: Christopher Nolan (book: Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin)

Photography: Hoyte van Hoytema

Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Josh Hartnett, Rami Malek, Gary Oldman, Florence Pugh, Jason Clarke, Alden Ehrenreich, David Krumholtz, Ben Safdie, Kenneth Branagh.

Production companies: Atlas Entertainment, Syncopy Inc.

Genre: legal drama, thriller, biographical, historical

Winners of the Oscar for Best Actor in the 21st century