Michelle Yeoh has become the first Asian winner of the best actress Oscar, for her performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
The creative multiverse adventure also won best picture, best original screenplay and best director.
Accepting her statuette, Yeoh said: “For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities.
“And ladies don’t let anybody tell you that you are ever past your prime.”
The 60-year-old enjoyed a late surge in momentum in this year’s Oscars race, ultimately overtaking the early frontrunner Cate Blanchett.
“This is proof that dreams do come true,” Yeoh said.
“I have to dedicate this to all the moms in the world because they are the superheroes, and without them, none of us would be here tonight.”
Yeoh is only the second woman of colour ever to win best actress – following Halle Berry for Monster’s Ball more than two decades ago.
Everything Everywhere All at Once follows a laundrette owner, played by Yeoh, who must tap into different versions of herself in the multiverse in order to save the world.
Elsewhere, Brendan Fraser capped his extraordinary comeback by winning an Oscar for his performance in The Whale.
The 54-year-old won best actor after years away from the Hollywood spotlight.
Thanking the film’s director, Fraser said: “I’m grateful to Darren Aronofsky for throwing me a creative lifeline.
“I started in this business 30 years ago, and things didn’t come easily to me, but there was a facility that I didn’t appreciate at the time until it stopped, and I just wanted to say thank you for this acknowledgement.”
Addressing his fellow nominees, he said: “You laid your whale-sized hearts so we could see into your souls, like no-one else could do, and it is my honour to be named alongside you in this category.”
Fraser was a huge film star at the turn of the millennium, starring in films such as George of the Jungle and The Mummy.
But he spent years out of the spotlight as he struggled to recapture his earlier success, mostly taking on smaller roles.
That changed when he was cast in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, as an overweight professor trying to reconnect with his daughter.
Fraser transformed his appearance for the film – which also won best make-up and hairstyling.
