The 83rd annual Golden Globes kicked off with an exciting surprise win for Teyana Taylor—and she took the moment to sing praises of Black and brown girls watching at home.
The actress/singer took home the first award of the night, winning Best Supporting Female Actor in a Motion Picture for her performance as Perfidia Beverly Hills in One Battle After Another. She was visibly emotional, tearing up as she made her way to the stage to accept the trophy for her first-ever Golden Globe nomination.
"I almost didn't even write a speech because I didn't think I would win," Taylor said, before speaking directly to her two daughters. "My babies are upstairs watching. Y’all better be off them damn phones and watching me right now."
The star continued, "First, in the name of Jesus, I thank you, and I praise you for every part of this faith walk, every lesson, every test, and every blessing. Thank you to the Golden Globe voters for seeing me and reminding me that purpose always finds its moment. To my mommy and my daddy, it's all for y'all anytime. I love y'all so much. Thank you for being here with me tonight. To my tribe, oh my God, my grounding force, my joy, and my daily reminder that love is an action, not just the word, and everything I do is rooted in that truth."
She went on to praise the team behind One Battle After Another, including writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson and the comedy's ensemble cast. "To Paul "Let Him Cook" Thomas Anderson, thank you for your vision, your trust, and your brilliance. My gratitude is endless. I love you. We love you and thank you so much for holding space for me and our entire cast. Leo [Dicaprio], Sean [Penn], Benicio [del Toro], Chase [Infiniti], Regina [Hall], everybody, the crew, every single person who has touched this project, none of this is taken lightly."
Taylor concluded her speech in a moving moment by dedicating it to women and girls of color. "And last but most importantly, to my brown sisters and little brown girls watching tonight, our softness is not a liability. Our depth is not too much. Our light does not need permission to shine. We belong in every room we walk into. Our voices matter, and our dreams deserve space. Thank you so much, everybody," she concluded.
Ever the fashion star, Taylor also took a moment to highlight her look of the evening, a black Schiaparelli gown featuring a rhinestone-embellished thong topped with a bow. "Wait till you see my party in the back!" she said, turning around to show the bling.
Tonight's win is Taylor's biggest honor for acting, after she broke out with her acclaimed performance in 2023's A Thousand and One. Earlier this year, during her September 2025 Marie Claire cover story interview, she said of her acting journey, "That's one thing that I can say I’m really proud of."
"When I was taking that risk, and nobody else believed that I would make these things happen if I took that risk, that’s one thing that I get to sit here today and say, 'I’m proud of that.' And did, and did, and did, and did. I said I would do it, and not everybody believed that," she shared.
Taylor was nominated alongside Emily Blunt for The Smashing Machine, Elle Fanning for Sentimental Value, Ariana Grande for Wicked: For Good, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas for Sentimental Value, and Amy Madigan for Weapons.
One Battle After Another, meanwhile, is the most-nominated film of the night, with a total of nine nods.
