Adrien Brody is reflecting on his career after taking home a Golden Globe award.
The actor was awarded Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama on Sunday, January 5, for his role as László Tóth in The Brutalist. The accolade came 23 years after Brody, 51, won an Academy Award for The Pianist at age 29.
“It’s been many years, it’s been decades, and I’ve had a long life and career and a lot of peaks and a lot of valleys,” Brody told Us Weekly and other reporters in the Beverly Hilton Press Room following his 2025 Golden Globes win. “It’s given me perspective. It’s given me great appreciation for this moment.”
Brody noted that “it can all go away,” referring to his career, which has spanned more than three decades.
“I am very grateful. I’ve had a very blessed career, but as you can see, it’s still a challenge to find work that is as meaningful as this,” the actor continued. He went on to discuss The Brutalist, in which Brody stars as a Hungarian-Jewish architect and Holocaust survivor who emigrates to America following World War II.
Adrien Brody lost 30 pounds for his 2003 role in The Pianist, which had lingering effects on his body. “That was a physical transformation that was necessary for storytelling,” Brody, 51, told New York Magazine in a profile published on Monday, December 23. “But then that kind of opened me up, spiritually, to a depth […]
“That you can have a triumph in your life again is incredibly healing and rewarding,” Brody added, noting that the movie “speaks to my family’s struggles and the hardships that they’ve faced.”
Adrien Brody Sonja Flemming/CBS
The actor further explained that his ancestors allowed him “the good fortune of having firm footing as an American actor,” which in turn gave Brody “the ability to hope and dream and to pursue something like this.”
During his acceptance speech on Sunday night, Brody explained that the story of his character in The Brutalist is similar to that of his own family. (Sunday’s win for Brody marked his first-ever Golden Globe.)
Courtesy of Netflix; Focus Features Many of the past year’s most critically and commercially successful films are up for the 2025 Golden Globes’ biggest awards. Nominations for this year’s awards show were announced in December 2024, with the musical thriller Emilia Pérez leading the pack with a total of 10 nominations. The Spanish-language French film […]
“This story, the character’s journey is very reminiscent of my mother’s and my ancestral journey of fleeing the horrors of war, coming to this great country. And I owe so much to my mother and my grandparents for their sacrifice,” Brody told the crowd before addressing his parents, Sylvia Plachy and Elliot Brody, who were both in the audience.
“Although I do not know fully how to express all of the challenges that you have faced and experienced, and the many people who have struggled immigrating to this country, I hope that this work stands to lift you up a bit and to give you a voice,” he continued. “I’m so grateful. I will cherish this moment forever.”
With reporting by Mariel Turner