Joker's Hildur Guðnadóttir becomes the 1st woman to win an original score Oscar in 22 years
Thanks to her work on Joker, Hildur Guðnadóttir just entered an unfortunately exclusive club.
Guðnadóttir on Sunday won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for Joker, becoming the fourth woman to win the musical score Oscar, and the first since 1998, Deadline reports.
Previously, the three woman to have won were Marilyn Bergman for Yentl in 1984, Rachel Portman for Emma in 1997, and Anne Dudley for The Full Monty in 1998. These three wins came when the Oscars had more than one musical score award; Bergman won Best Original Song Score or Adaptation Score, while Portman and Dudley both won Best Original Musical or Comedy Score. The Wrap notes Guðnadóttir is only the third woman to win an Oscar for scoring, though, since Bergman wrote songs rather than score for Yentl.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"To the girls, to the women, to the mothers and the daughters who hear the music bubbling within, please speak up," Guðnadóttir said in her acceptance speech. "We need to hear your voices."
Guðnadóttir had been expected to win the Oscar on Sunday, having also won at the Golden Globes and the British Academy Film Awards. She additionally won an Emmy and a Grammy for her work on HBO's Chernobyl.
“I think it's just magnificent to be able to be a part of this conversation, and to shed some light to the situation of women in the industry, especially in this category, because it's a little bit silly how few there are," she told Deadline last month. "It's completely [incomprehensible] to me. So, I think it's just wonderful to be a part of that conversation, and in the kindest way possible say, 'Hey, isn’t this a bit ridiculous?'"
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
How weight-loss jabs are changing the way we eatIn The Spotlight Anti-obesity drugs have been a boon for Babybel but are supermarkets ready for a slimmed-down Christmas?
-
Sudoku hard: December 18, 2025The daily hard sudoku puzzle from The Week
-
Crossword: December 18, 2025The daily crossword from The Week
-
Son arrested over killing of Rob and Michele ReinerSpeed Read Nick, the 32-year-old son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner, has been booked for the murder of his parents
-
Rob Reiner, wife dead in ‘apparent homicide’speed read The Reiners, found in their Los Angeles home, ‘had injuries consistent with being stabbed’
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
