Fernanda Montenegro shares her feelings about daughter Fernanda Torres’ Oscar nomination: “She has already won”
Fernanda Torres is in the running for Best Actress at Sunday’s Academy Awards, but her mother says the ‘I’m Still Here' star is already a winner.
Oscar nominee Fernanda Torres has “already won”, whoever ends up taking home the Best Actress statuette at this weekend’s Academy Awards.
That’s the verdict of Torres’ mother, fellow Brazilian screen favorite Fernanda Montenegro.
What is Fernanda Torres nominated for?
Torres has earned her Best Actress nod for her performance in Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here - a biographical drama that revolves around the forced disappearance of dissident Brazilian politician Rubens Paiva in the 1970s, during the South American country’s military dictatorship.
A film based on a 2015 memoir written by Paiva’s son, Marcelo Rubens Paiva, I’m Still Here is also a contender for Best Picture and Best International Feature. In the latter category, it is the bookmakers’ favorite.
Torres plays Rubens Paiva’s wife, Eunice Paiva, delivering what The Guardian’s Wendy Ide describes as a “phenomenal” turn. RogerEbert.com’s Robert Daniels adds that Torres offers an “intricate” portrayal of a spouse and mother who must come to terms with her husband’s sudden, permanent absence.
“Her advanced relationship to her fellow actors and to the camera relies on the character’s desire to force a kind of normalcy in uncommon times,” Daniels says. “She tries to be present for her children, for instance, but she can’t hide the mourning she wants to experience from her face.”
Fernanda Torres (Best Actress nominee for I’M STILL HERE) attends the 97th Oscars Nominees Dinner at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 26, 2025
Photo Credit: Emma McIntyre/WireImage pic.twitter.com/J89lK10URK
Brazil’s mother-and-daughter big-screen history makers
Early last month, Torres’ I’m Still Here performance won her the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Motion Picture. She was only the second ever Brazilian to go up for the award - after Montenegro, who was nominated in 1999 for Central Station, a film also directed by Salles.
What’s more, Torres and Montenegro - an actor who also appears in I’m Still Here, in a brief role as an older Eunice - are the only Brazilians ever to be nominated for an Oscar in an acting category.
In addition to Golden Globes recognition, Central Station also brought Torres a Best Actress nod at the 71st Oscars, where the now-95-year-old was beaten by Shakespeare in Love’s Gwyneth Paltrow.
“Being nominated is the Oscar”
Reacting to her daughter’s Academy Award nomination, Montenegro told The Hollywood Reporter last weekend: “There is a miracle in my life. Living almost 100 years and seeing my daughter fulfill herself as a human being and a creative artist. Fernanda is a Renaissance soul.
“She has already won - before, during and after. Being nominated is the Oscar itself.”
Torres, meanwhile, told Entertainment Weekly earlier this month: “It’s an incredible tale that she [Montenegro] was nominated for the Oscars 25 years ago. And now I’m the other Brazilian actress who is nominated for the Oscars with the same director.”
“To stand here today, representing Brazil in a lineage that began with my mother’s trailblazing journey, is both surreal and deeply moving,” the 59-year-old has also said, in a statement released after her Oscars nomination was announced in January.
Watch the trailer for I’m Still Here:
Who are the nominees for Best Actress 2025?
Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez
Mikey Madison, Anora
Demi Moore, The Substance
Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here
Who is the favorite to win Best Actress?
Demi Moore, who has won best actress honors at the Golden Globes, the Critics’ Choice Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards this year, is the bookmakers’ frontrunner for the award, with Mikey Madison rated as the second likeliest winner.
According to the odds comparison website Oddschecker, Torres heads into this weekend’s Academy Awards sitting third in the Best Actress betting.
When are the 2025 Academy Awards?
Hosted by the comedian Conan O’Brien, the 97th Academy Awards are to be held on Sunday, March 2, at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
Aired live in the U.S. by ABC, the Oscars are scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT. You can stream ABC on the online platform fubo, which offers a free trial.
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