Scottsdale native Emma Stone wins second Best Actress Oscar

At the 96th annual Academy Awards held Sunday night, Emma Stone took home her second Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in “Poor Things” as Bella Baxter, a young woman who goes on a journey of self-discovery after being brought back to life by an eccentric scientist.

And it all started in the Valley.

“Yorgos, thank you for the gift of a lifetime in Bella Baxter,” Stone said in her acceptance speech, speaking to “Poor Things” director Yorgos Lanthimos. “I am forever thankful for you.”

She was born Emily Stone in Scottsdale on Nov. 6, 1988. She began her acting career at local company Valley Youth Theatre, where her first role was in “The Wind in the Willows” at the age of 10.

VYT artistic director Bobb Cooper told Teen Vogue in 2017, “I knew from a very young age that Emma had the innate ability to bring any character to life. She gives everything to each character she plays and brings truth to the story. Emma knows how to make moments magical.”

Stone thanked Cooper in her acceptance speech for Best Actress when she won it in 2017 for “La La Land.”

Though Stone won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical this year, industry experts and oddsmakers favored Lily Gladstone to win the Oscar for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which would have made her the first Indigenous woman to win the Best Actress award. Indeed, Stone looked shocked when her name was announced.

Stone referenced her fellow nominees — Sandra Huller, Annette Bening, Carey Mulligan and Gladstone — in her acceptance speech.

“And the women in this category, Sandra, Annette, Carey, Lily, I share this with you, I am in awe of you. It has been such an honor to do all this together and I hope we keep doing more together,” she said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkN0sPQ76E0

Stone now becomes one of 12 women who have won the Best Actress Academy Award twice. (Frances McDormand has won it three times, and Katharine Hepburn has a record four statuettes in that category.)

Stone also thanked the cast and crew of “Poor Things,” which took home Oscars in the categories of Production Design, Costume Design and Makeup & Hairstyling.

“Yorgos said to me, ‘Please take yourself out of it,’ and he was right, because it’s not about me. It’s about a team that came together to make something greater than the sum of its parts and that is the best part about making movies: It’s all of us, together. And I am so deeply honored to share this with every cast member, with every crew member, with every single person who poured their love and their care and their brilliance into the making of this film.”

Lastly, Stone thanked her family, including her husband, Dave McCary, and their daughter, Louise.

She said, “I know I have to wrap up, but I really just want to thank my family: my mom; my brother, Spencer; my dad; my husband, Dave, I love you so much. And most importantly, my daughter; who’s gonna be 3 in three days and has turned our lives Technicolor. I love you bigger than the whole sky, my girl. Thank you so much.”