The producers of the 2024 Academy Awards ceremony brought back a popular move introduced in 2009, when five past acting winners presented the award in their respective categories. The conceit brought many luminaries to the stage that year, including Sophia Loren, Shirley MacLaine, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman and Halle Berry—and that's just to name the Best Actress category.
This year's iteration began with the very first award of the night, the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Jamie Lee Curtis introduced her longtime friend Jodie Foster (nominated for Nyad), Mary Steenburgen spoke about Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer), Lupita Nyong'o paid tribute to Da'Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers), and Regina King introduced Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple). That award went, as predicted, to first-time nominee and winner Randolph, who delivered an emotional acceptance speech.
In the case of some of the presenters, it's been many years, or even decades, since they stood on that stage and accepted their Academy Award (and in some cases, multiple awards). In case you need your memory jogged on, for example, Steenburgen's turn in Jonathan Demme's Melvin and Howard, here is a refresher.
Below, see all of the presenters alongside the movie (and in some cases, movies, for which they won), as well as the year of the ceremony at which they received their award(s), updating throughout the ceremony.
Read more: The Most Surprising Oscar Nominees Who Have Never Won
Best Supporting Actress
Jamie Lee Curtis (introduced Jodie Foster): Everything Everywhere All at Once, 2023
Mary Steenburgen (introduced Emily Blunt): Melvin and Howard, 1981
Lupita Nyong'o (introduced winner Da'Vine Joy Randolph): 12 Years a Slave, 2014
Rita Moreno (introduced America Ferrera): West Side Story, 1962
Regina King (Introduced Danielle Brooks): If Beale Street Could Talk, 2019
Best Supporting Actor
Ke Huy Quan (introduced Sterling K. Brown): Everything Everywhere All at Once, 2023
Sam Rockwell (introduced winner Robert Downey Jr.): Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, 2018
Tim Robbins (introduced Robert De Niro): Mystic River, 2003
Christoph Waltz (introduced Ryan Gosling): Inglorious Basterds, 2009; Django Unchained, 2012
Mahershala Ali (introduced Mark Ruffalo): Moonlight, 2017; Green Book, 2019
Best Actor
Brendan Fraser (introduced Jeffrey Wright): The Whale, 2023
Nicolas Cage (introduced Paul Giamatti): Leaving Las Vegas, 1996
Matthew McConaughey (introduced Bradley Cooper): Dallas Buyer's Club, 2014
Ben Kingsley (introduced winner Cillian Murphy): Gandhi, 1983
Forest Whitaker (introduced Colma Domingo): The Last King of Scotland, 2006
Best Actress
Michelle Yeoh (introduced Sandra Hüller): Everything Everywhere All at Once, 2023
Sally Field (introduced winner Emma Stone): Norma Rae, 1980; Places in the Heart, 1985
Jennifer Lawrence (introduced Lily Gladstone): Silver Linings Playbook, 2013
Charlize Theron (introduced Annette Bening): Monster, 2004
Jessica Lange (introduced Carey Mulligan): Blue Sky, 1995
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Write to Eliza Berman at [email protected]