Beats True Grit’s Steinfeld

By Brian Zink

Leo and Douglas onstage at Oscars

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 2/27/11 – An overjoyed Melissa Leo takes the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in “The Fighter. She said to presenter Kirk Douglas “Pinch me!” and the senior Douglas, who was quite funny, promptly did so.

She beat Hailee Steinfeld, the 14-year-old from True Grit, a favorite on many.

“Really, truly a lot of people said a lot of good things in the last few weeks, Leo said. “Thanks to Jack and the Ward family for opening up their hearts.”

Melisa plays a selfish and controlling woman who is harming her son’s chance to become a successful fighter. This is the second Academy Award nomination for Melissa Leo. She was previously nominated for FROZEN RIVER, also a Sundance winner.

After supporting roles in a handful of small films and a short stint on the soap opera All My Children, New York-born Melissa Leo gained prominence on the critically-acclaimed Barry Levinson-produced television drama Homicide: Life on the Streets. After leaving the show in 1997, Leo continued to appear in a range of features, including 1999′s 24 Hour Woman. But it was her role as Benicio Del Toro’s wife in 2003′s 21 Grams that gave Leo her first exposure to a wide moviegoing audience.

The performance also won her recognition from the L.A. Film Critics Association, who named Leo the runner-up for the Best Supporting Actress honor. Leo continued to work steadily in a series of independent films including American Gun, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, and Stephanie Daley. In 2008 she landed the lead role in Courtney Hunt’s debut feature Frozen River. As a financially strapped woman who turns to human-trafficking in order to earn a living, Leo earned thunderous critical praise as well as Best Actress nominations from both the Screen Actors Guild, and the Academy.