As Zoe Saldaña got up onstage to accept her Academy Award for best supporting actress Sunday night, she looked around the Dolby Theatre for her mother, exclaiming, "Mami! Mami!" and waved before telling the audience, "My mom is here. My whole family's here. I am floored by this honor."
The 46-year-old made history on Sunday, becoming the first American of Dominican origin to win best supporting actress for her role as Mexican lawyer Rita Castro in "Emilia Pérez." She told "Good Morning America" backstage that she locked eyes with her mother before beginning her powerful acceptance speech.
"I saw her -- it was really beautiful," the newly minted Oscar winner said of the mother-daughter moment. "Everything just flashes before your eyes -- all the years, all the auditions, all the parts I didn't get, and my mom just picking me up, reminding me to be happy for the woman that got the part. Never, 'Oh you didn't get it because of this or because of that -- don't worry, there'll be the next time.' But, 'Be happy for whoever booked it. It is her time.'"
"My mom is the epitome of grace. So, I just wanted to say, I just wanted her to know that I appreciate her," Saldaña said.
The actress, who was raised in Queens, New York, also shouted out the other women before her and proudly celebrated her heritage in her acceptance speech on Sunday.
"My grandmother came to this country in 1961. I am a proud child of immigrant parents with dreams and dignity and hardworking hands, and I'm the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, and I know I will not be the last. I hope," she said during the speech.
Saldaña revealed to "GMA" backstage that she had been under the weather, but still planned to celebrate the evening and enjoy some of her favorite food.
Although Saldaña is "usually" in "bed by 9," she said, "My kids are in the hotel, they're waiting for us, so obviously there'll be a lot of celebration. I am going to have to stay out, I have to celebrate them as well -- and then I'll probably have a lot to eat."
The first dish on her mind? "Obviously rice and beans, because I'm Dominican. But then also, you know, I'm a New Yorker, so any kind of Asian food around town."
