Emma Stone wins second career best actress Oscar for 'Poor Things' in tight race with Lily Gladstone

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Emma Stone has won the best actress Oscar for “Poor Things,” her second career victory in the category.

She triumphed over Lily Gladstone of “Killers of the Flower Moon” on Sunday night in a race most pundits said was too close to call. Gladstone would have been the first Native American to win a competitive Oscar.

Stone was honored for her tour-de-force performance as Bella Baxter, a childlike woman in Victorian London who comes to life through a brain transplant and begins a journey of self-discovery. The film is chock full of black humor set against steampunk visual design.

Stone is the 13th woman to win two best actress trophies. Her first came in 2017 for the romantic musical “La La Land.” She was nominated for supporting actress in 2015 and 2019.

She also was nominated this year in the best picture category for producing “Poor Things.” She was the second woman to be nominated for acting and best picture for the same film after Frances McDormand, who earned both trophies for “Nomadland” in 2021.

Stone and Gladstone traded wins on the way to an Oscar showdown. Stone won at the BAFTA Film Awards and the Golden Globes, while Gladstone scored at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and in a different category at the Globes.

Stone broke through in 2016 with a starring role in the teen comedy “Easy A.” The 35-year-old actor from Scottsdale, Arizona, went on to major roles in “The Help,” multiple “Spider-Man” movies, “Birdland,” “The Battle of the Sexes” and “The Favourite.”

The other leading actress nominees were Annette Bening for “Nyad,” Sandra Hüller for “Anatomy of a Fall” and Carey Mulligan for “Maestro.”

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