Kiwi actress Melanie Lynskey praised for Critics Choice Awards speech

Melanie Lynskey is winning hearts across the internet for her "perfect" acceptance speech after taking home the Critics Choice Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series.

Lauded for her role as "Shauna", one of the survivors of a plane crash in the psychological horror series, Yellowjackets, Lynskey is seen approaching the podium with hesitation at the awards ceremony which took place in Los Angeles.

And what a perfect speech! Honestly we need to be giving more awards to Melanie Lynskey so we can get more of this pic.twitter.com/ka54hoO83W
— Cameron Scheetz (@cameronscheetz) March 14, 2022

"Um, okay, sorry, I'm going to be really bad," Lynskey tells the rapturous audience. "I really wasn't expecting this, I'm going to be really bad at this speech."

After heaping praise upon her co-stars, telling them they did "70 per cent of the work for me" she turns to the camera and shares that she thinks she's "going to faint. But I hope I don't."

And amid the applause she peppers her speech with light-hearted humour, thanking her agent, Rhonda Price, and sharing that "she believes in me. She's made about zero dollars from me for a long time ... it's true. Sorry Rhonda," she says with a shrug before noticing the tele-prompter and blurting out, "Please wrap it up. yes, exactly, I know. I'm forgetting everything."

Lynskey took to Twitter to continue her thanks after the awards -

Tonight was very overwhelming!! I forgot to thank THE CRITICS. As a person who obsessively reads film & tv writing and is literally starstruck by the people who are great at it, I’m very embarrassed that I forgot but I was LOSING IT. Thank you CCA. This means the world to me ❤️❤️
— Melanie Lynskey (@melanielynskey) March 14, 2022

Lynskey wasn't the only Kiwi to take home a Critics Choice Award - Kiwi director Jane Campion won the coveted award for Best Director for her film The Power of the Dog.

Fittingly presented the award by fellow Kiwi film-maker Taika Waititi, Campion's Western-style psychological drama also won Best Picture as well as awards for its cinematography and Campion's screenplay adaptation.

Earlier today, the director took out the coveted Bafta Awards for Best Film and Best Director.

This article was originally published on the NZ Herald and republished here with permission and edits.

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