Dern wins Academy Award for her role as a predatory divorce lawyer in the Noah Baumbach-directed comedy-drama starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson

This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

Laura Dern has won the best supporting actress Oscar at the 92nd Academy awards for her role as a predatory divorce lawyer in Marriage Story. Dern was the favourite for the award, but had to overcome competition from the likes of Kathy Bates in Richard Jewell, and Little Women’s Florence Pugh.

Marriage Story, written and directed by Noah Baumbach, stars Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson as a couple in the throes of separation; Dern plays Nora Fanshaw, the hilariously manipulative lawyer Johansson’s character hires to represent her.

Picking up her award, Dern thanked the Academy, Baumbach for his “vision, magic and friendship”, her step-children and children, and her parents, actors Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern: “You got game, I love you.”

“This is the best birthday present ever,” she concluded.

Dern has won virtually every award going for her role, including the Bafta, Golden Globe, Critics Choice and Screen Actors Guild awards. This is her first Oscar; she has been nominated twice before, for best actress in 1992 for Rambling Rose and best supporting actress in 2015 for Wild.