The 2025 Oscar Winners Who Made History

March 2, 2025 9:21 PM EST

For all the biggest moments of the 2025 Oscars, read our full recap here.

The Oscars were full of history-making moments tonight. On an evening with many open races, several of the winners, including the team behind Flow, the costume designer for Wicked, and Emilia Pérez star Zoe Saldaña, all became firsts at the ceremony when their names were called to accept their Academy Awards.

Here are all the Oscar winners who made history Sunday night.

Flow becomes the first Latvian film to win an Oscar

Flow, the feline-centric film, won for Best Animated Feature, giving Latvia its first Academy Award ever. The visually stunning, dialogue-free film is also the first independent film to win Best Animated Film at the Oscars. It was also nominated for Best International Feature, an award which went to the Brazilian drama I'm Still Here.

Wicked's Paul Tazewell is the first Black man to win for costume design

Paul Tazewell, who had previously been nominated for his work in Steven Spielberg's West Side Story, snagged the Oscar for costume design. "I am the first Black man to receive the Oscar design award," he said during his speech. "I'm so proud of this." He went on to honor his "Ozian muses, Cynthia and Ariana" as the Wicked stars, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande gave him a standing ovation. Tazewell has had a storied career on Broadway, designing costumes for such shows as The Color Purple and In the Heights.

Zoe Saldaña becomes first American of Dominican origin to win an Oscar

Zoe Saldaña has dominated awards season and predictably won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Emilia Pérez. In her speech, the actor spoke about her family's experience as immigrants. "My grandmother came to this country in 1961," she said. "I am the proud child of immigrant parents with dreams and dignity and hardworking hands, and I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award. And I know I will not be the last." She also joined a short list of winners who received an award for a role performed in another language and from a movie nominated for Best International Feature.

Brazil gets its first Oscar win

After five previous nominations, Brazil finally snagged the Oscar for best international feature with I’m Still Here. The movie recounts the experiences of Eunice Paiva and her family after her husband Rubens Paiva was taken into custody during the country’s military dictatorship. Eunice Paiva went on to become a lawyer and activist, and the family became famous in Brazil. Brazilian fans have rallied around the movie and its portrayal of resilience in the face of oppression. Star Fernanda Torres was also up for Best Actress tonight, though Mikey Madison won in that category.

Adrien Brody goes two for two in the best actor category

Adrien Brody set an incredibly specific but still impressive record Sunday when he won Best Actor for his work in The Brutalist. He is the first person to win two best actor Oscars in his first two nominations. He previously won for his role in The Pianist in 2003. His first Oscar set a record that still stands for youngest man to win Best Actor in Academy Awards history. In a notable parallel, he played a Holocaust survivor in both films.

Sean Baker goes four for four in one night

Anora had an excellent night at the Oscars. Writer-director-editor Sean Baker became the first person to win four Oscars in the same year for the same film. He won every award he was personally nominated for—Best Original Screenplay, Best Editor, Best Director, and finally Best Picture, as one of the film's producers. The film's star Mikey Madison won Best Actress, to boot.