Before Da'Vine Joy Randolph won the Oscar for best actress in a supporting role for her performance as Mary Lamb in "The Holdovers" Sunday, her former schoolmate Lupita Nyong'o, who won in the same category in 2014, introduced her to the live audience and TV viewers.
"Da'Vine, my friend, your performance is tribute to those who have helped others heal in spite of their own pain," Nyong'o said in her touching remarks. "It's also tribute to your grandmother, whose glasses you the in your film. What an honor to see the world through her eyes and yours."
Randolph told "Good Morning America's" Lara Spencer backstage after the ceremony that she didn't know beforehand that Nyong'o would present her, alongside fellow actresses Mary Steenburgen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Rita Moreno and Regina King, who all teamed up to introduce the supporting actress nominees together.
"I've been speaking to Lupita all this week. And she didn't say anything," Randolph began. "And so she went up and I was like, 'What are they doing?' And then, as you know, the face shone behind her."
MORE: Oscars 2024 recap: Biggest moments from the 96th Academy AwardsRandolph said the moment, which brought her to tears, was extra special because she and Nyong'o attended drama school together and both came up in Hollywood around the same time.
"We went to school together so if anybody gets it, she does," Randolph said. "She understands my journey. She understands what I went through when I was developing who I was as an artist. And I credit a lot of Lupita, my former classmates at Yale School of Drama, and how our curriculum was set up. We really gleaned and honed our craft together with one another."
MORE: Oscar winner Da'Vine Joy Randolph on moment Lupita Nyong'o introduced herRandolph shared her gratitude when she accepted her Oscar, the first trophy given out during Sunday night's telecast from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
"I thank you to all the people who have stepped in my path and [have] been there for me, who have ushered me and guided me," Randolph said in part.
Afterwards, Randolph spilled the beans to Spencer and said she couldn't remember what she had said in front of the microphone.
"I knew gutturally ... no matter what I said, no matter how nervous you get, or whatever, you're gonna have to just speak from the heart. So I don't remember anything," Randolph said.
The first-time Oscar winner, who initially started off as a singer, said in her acceptance speech that she realized the importance of staying true to herself as she embarked on her acting journey.
"For so long, I've always wanted to be different," Randolph said Sunday. "And now I realize, I just need to be myself. And I thank you. I thank you for seeing me."
Randolph also thanked her Yale drama professor by name during her Sunday speech.
"Ron Van Lieu, I thank you, when I was the only Black girl in that class, when you saw me and you told me I was enough," she said. "And when I told you, 'I don't see myself,' you said, 'That's fine. We're gonna forge our own path. You're gonna lay a trail for yourself.'"
Backstage, Randolph said that poignant portion of her speech was "a very unique moment" for her.
"It's a very unique moment for me where I've, throughout this whole process, realized, 'No, you forged your own path,' and you still got the result you were hoping for," she added. "And I just want people to know that like, you are enough and you ... as long as you have the passion within you and the work ethic and humility to go after it, it's yours. It's just your timing and it's no one else's."
