PA Images/20th Century FoxRami Malek has won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.
The 37-year-old has now added the Academy Award to his growing collection of trophies he’s earned for his portrayal of the Queen frontman.
He’s already won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama, the Screen Actors Guild Award (SAG) for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
Malek beat off some tough competition to win the coveted award, going up against Christian Bale (Vice), Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born), Willem Dafoe (At Eternity’s Gate) and Viggo Mortensen (Green Book).
He’s been the favourite to win for a while, with his odds improving following his victory at the SAG awards – over the past 24 years, 71 people out of the 96 handed acting awards at the Oscars, also won at the SAG Awards.
When it comes to the Best Actor category in particular, 19 of the last 24 SAG winners went on to also pick up the Academy Award.
Whether or not you enjoyed his performance as Mercury, Malek certainly worked hard, taking on an intense diet and exercise regime to play the frontman, at various stages of his life.
In an interview with The Wrap, he revealed how he had to bulk up, before dramatically losing weight:
I didn’t really want to bulk up, per se — I just wanted to get my body into a place where I could do a 22-minute concert over and over for five days and not be out of breath. Well, it’s highly impossible to do that.
There were days when I found myself laying on my back trying to just absorb as much air as possible.
But at the same time, I was on a very specific diet. I bulked up for that first week and immediately had to drop muscle and weight and go into shooting young Freddie, who is very scrawny. I just had to be really cognizant of when to work out and when to crash diet. I don’t recommend it for anyone.
In the same interview, Malek also disclosed he wore fake teeth for the role, practicing wearing them for a year before shooting even started.
The hard work paid off though – congratulations Rami!
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