The 91st Academy Awards was a night filled with surprises and firsts — with Olivia Colman ticking both of these boxes when she won the Oscar for best actress. With her down-to-earth charisma and charm, alongside her award-winning performance as Queen Anne in "The Favourite," Colman has been making waves with international audiences. While this was her first Oscar nomination and award, the British actress has been making several contributions to the entertainment world for close to two decades. Yet, before she even won over the British public back in the 2000s, Colman had to work hard to get her foot in the door. She switched the subjects she was studying, and also took on jobs as a cleaner and a secretary.

Award winners from the 91st Oscars: Rami Malek, Olivia Colman, Regina King, Mahershala Ali (L-R) Rick Rowell | Disney ABC Television Group | Getty Images

Having grown up in the English city of Norwich, Colman initially signed up for a teaching course at Homerton College, Cambridge, when she finished school, as she "didn't know what else to do and I still couldn't quite let myself want to act," Colman told British Vogue in 2017. During her time in Cambridge however, she found herself auditioning for the university's Footlights Dramatic Club, where she would go onto meet her future co-stars, comedians David Mitchell and Robert Webb. Colman would also meet her future husband, Ed Sinclair, at Cambridge, before following him to Bristol, where she went onto study at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Once Colman knew that she wanted to act professionally, she fought hard and never gave up on her dream. "Being able to put 'actor' on my passport was all I wanted in the world," Colman told British Vogue. When accepting her speech on Sunday, Colman explained how she "loved" her job as a cleaner, yet would often spend a lot of time imagining herself giving an award acceptance speech. "And any little girl, who is practicing their speech on the telly — you never know," Colman said when receiving the "Best Actress" award. Many attribute Colman's acting on "Peep Show," with Mitchell and Webb from 2003 onwards, as a breakout moment for her.