Lily Gladstone is making her Oscars debut in style!
On Sunday, the 37-year-old Killers of the Flower Moon star dazzled as she strutted the red carpet ahead of Hollywood’s biggest night, wearing a stunning velvet gown with a long train behind her. The train included embellishments that matched the top of her strapless gown. She paired the style with a statement necklace and a dazzling bangle.
The actress is nominated in the Best Lead Actress category for her show-stopping performance as Mollie Burkhart, a real member of the Osage Nation who was central to solving the Osage murders of the 1920s. Burkhart’s mother and sisters were murdered for access to their land — which was rich with oil — as well as the wealth they had accumulated after the oil was found.
In the Martin Scorcese-directed film inspired by real-life events, Gladstone is married to Leonardo DiCaprio‘s character, Ernest Burkhart, who is involved in the plot alongside Uncle William (Robert De Niro) to kill off members of the Osage Nation for their headrights.
For the performance, Gladstone has already received numerous nominations and wins from film societies and festivals around the world, including recognition from the Screen Actors Guild, the Golden Globes and the National Board of Review.
In January, ET spoke with DiCaprio, 49, who described his on-screen wife as the “heart and soul” of the film.
“I felt her at moments living as Mollie,” he said. “She embodied that character, she took on the soul of this woman and embraced herself into the Osage community.”
While the stakes are high for all nominees, Gladstone’s success at the Academy Awards could help to fulfill a prophecy as she was once voted “most likely to win an Oscar” by her high school peers.
In a photo posted to social media earlier in the year, a young Gladstone is seen standing next to her classmate, Josh Ryder, who was nominated alongside her for the entertainment industry-focused superlative. The pair recreate Grant Wood’s American Gothic, with Ryder holding a wooden doll as a makeshift Academy Award.
ET spoke with Ryder after the photo went viral and he said that he — and the entire community in their hometown of Seattle, Washington — is cheering her on from afar, even planning to throw an Oscars viewing party to see their former classmate “fulfill the prophecy.”
“I don’t think I had the capacity necessarily to think, or the understanding of what it would take to put oneself in that position to be nominated for an Oscar and Lily has done it,” Ryder said at the time. “And it is extraordinary that she did such high-caliber work, and is getting recognized for it rightfully.”
After she was announced as one of the five women vying for the trophy, Gladstone released a statement, in which she shared her excitement to be not only a nominee, but also the first Native woman of American descent in the category.
“I am so deeply grateful to the Academy for this unparalleled honor. It has been a great blessing in and of itself to be a working actor at all, and to get to tell a story like Killers of the Flower Moon is beyond what I could have ever hoped for. I both share and owe this moment to the incomparable Martin Scorsese, who honored the voices and wishes of the Osage Nation with such fortitude, and to my gracious and legendary co-stars Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, and especially Leonardo DiCaprio. His immense, exceptional talent and heart made this possible, I am forever a proud and grateful friend.”
The 2024 Academy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, is airing live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday, March 10, at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET on ABC. Follow along at ETonline.com for full Oscars coverage, including red carpet arrivals, the complete winners list and more.
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