Her win for playing IRS auditor Deirdre Beaubeirdre is a high mark in the decades-long career for Curtis, who made her feature debut at 19 in Halloween, the 1978 film that made her a star and has defined her trajectory. This is the first nomination and win for Curtis, who is the daughter of late Oscar winner Janet Leigh and late Oscar nominee Tony Curtis.

Curtis’ win was also early indicator of a good night for Everything Everywhere All at Once, the indie hit that became an improbable awards season juggernaut.

Curtis’ work required her to play multiple characters, including a woman with hotdogs for fingers — not a role that seems tailor-made for Oscar voters.

Indeed, Curtis acknowledged that her career has been in the genre space, and thanked both her fans as well as her collaborators on Everything Everywhere (including Ke Huy Quan, who moments earlier took home supporting actor, and Stephanie Hsu, also nominated for best actress).

“To all of the people who have supported the genre movies I’ve made, the thousands and hundreds of thousands and people, we just won an Oscar together. My mother and father were both nominated for Oscars in different categories,” Curtis said, choking with emotion and looking upwards. “I just won an Oscar.”

In addition to her co-star Hsu, other nominees in the category were Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Hong Chau (The Whale), and Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin).