Andra Day wins Golden Globe for ‘The United States Vs. Billie Holiday’

Day made history at this year's Golden Globes as she became the only second Black woman ever to win this award after Whoopi Goldberg did 35 years ago for 'The Color Purple', reported Variety.

Washington: Actor-singer Andra Day took home the Golden Globe for best actress in a motion picture (drama), for her incredible performance in the Hulu film ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’.

Day made history at this year’s Golden Globes as she became the only second Black woman ever to win this award after Whoopi Goldberg did 35 years ago for ‘The Color Purple’, reported Variety.

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Day was nominated with Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman), Frances McDormand (Nomadland), and Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman).
In her acceptance speech surrounded by her family and friends, Day thanked “the amazing transformative dynamic Billie Holiday, who just just transformed me with this role and with her presence and with her spirit.”

This marks Day’s first acting nomination and win at the Globes, and she is the first winner in this category for a movie that debuted on a streaming service. Day, who started her career as a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, was also nominated with Raphael Saadiq for best original song (Tigress and Tweed). However, ‘Io si’, from ‘The Life Ahead’ won that award.

‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’, directed by Lee Daniels from a script by playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, dramatises the final years in the life of Holiday, the renowned jazz singer who faced relentless persecution from the U.S. government over her performance of the song ‘Strange Fruit’, about the horrors of lynching.

Meanwhile, the 78th Golden Globe Awards is taking place nearly two months later than normal, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cinema and television.

This is the first bi-coastal ceremony, with Tina Fey hosting from the Rainbow Room in New York City, and Amy Poehler hosting from The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California.

The nominees for Golden Globes were announced on February 3 and Jane Fonda and Norman Lear were announced as the recipients of the Cecil B. DeMille Award and the Carol Burnett Award, respectively.

Netflix dominated the nominations with a total of 42 mentions, including a nomination for the leading film ‘Mank’ and a nomination for leading television show ‘The Crown’.