Oscars 2024: Robert Downey Jr. Wins Best Supporting Actor for Oppenheimer: Watch His Speech

At the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday Night, Robert Downey Jr. nabbed his very first Oscar win for Best Supporting Actor thanks to his portrayal of Lewis Strauss — Chairman of the newly-established Atomic Energy Commission and fierce political rival of J. Robert Oppenheimer — in Christopher Nolan's critically-acclaimed atomic bomb thriller, Oppenheimer (now streaming exclusively on Peacock). This was Downey's third Academy Award nomination following two Best Actor nods for his work on Richard Attenborough's Chaplin (1993) and Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder (2008). With this win, Downey Jr. becomes the first former SNL cast member to win an Oscar. 

Oppenheimer, which chronicles the rise and fall of Dr. Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) before and after the Second World War, grossed nearly $1 billion globally and garnered an impressive total of 13 Oscar nominations.

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Robert Downey Jr. Wins Best Supporting Actor for Oppenheimer

"Here's my little secret: I needed this job more than it needed me," Downey said in his acceptance speech. "Chris knew it. [Producer] Emma Thomas made sure that she surrounded me with one of the great cast and crews of all time ... It was fantastic and I stand here before you a better man because of it. What we do is meaningful and the stuff that we decide to make is important."

The actor gained plenty of acclaim for his portrayal of Strauss, who set out to ruin Oppenheimer's reputation and career by painting the Manhattan Project lead as a Communist subversive (this was the McCarthy era, after all). As a result, "Oppie" was stripped of his high-level security clearance, his name dragged through the mud, until the government finally cleared him of all charges in 2022. Strauss, who wrongfully believed Oppenheimer had turned Albert Einstein against him, experienced a powerful dose of karmic justice when his nomination for Secretary of Commerce under President Eisenhower was denied in 1959.

Click here for the complete list of winners.

How to Watch Oppenheimer Right Now

Oppenheimer is now streaming exclusively on Peacock alongside a slew of behind-the-scenes featurettes.

The NBCUniversal platform currently offers two monthly subscription plans: Premium ($5.99 a month with ads) and Premium Plus ($11.99 a month with no ads and download access for certain titles). If you're a student, you can enjoy the Premium plan for just $1.99 for an entire year!

Not a Peacock subscriber just yet? The film is also available to purchase from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment!