Mark Rylance accepts the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the movie Bridge Of Spies at the 88th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California, on February 28, 2016. Picture: Mario Anzuoni, Reuters Mark Rylance accepts the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the movie Bridge Of Spies at the 88th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California, on February 28, 2016. Picture: Mario Anzuoni, Reuters
Los Angeles - Mark Rylance won the Academy Award for best supporting actor on Sunday for his role as an unflappable Russian secret agent in Steven Spielberg's Cold War-era drama Bridge Of Spies.
It was the first Oscar for 56-year-old Rylance, an acclaimed British stage actor and playwright.
“I've always just adored stories, hearing them, seeing them, being in them,” Rylance said before thanking director Steven Spielberg and co-star Tom Hanks.
In Bridge Of Spies, Rylance played real-life Soviet intelligence officer Rudolf Abel, who was arrested by US authorities in New York in 1957 and charged with conspiracy. Abel was held in prison while an American defence lawyer, portrayed by Hanks, argued his case.
Rylance triumphed on Sunday over other nominees including 69-year-old Sylvester Stallone, who won wide acclaim for reprising his role as Rocky Balboa in boxing drama Creed, and Mark Ruffalo, who portrayed a determined journalist in Spotlight.
The soft-spoken Rylance is often described as the greatest English stage actor of his generation.
He has won three Tony awards for theatre performances, most recently in 2014 for playing the Countess Olivia in the all-male Shakespeare Globe's Broadway production of Twelfth Night.
Rylance also served as the first artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London from 1995 to 2005.
Earlier this month, Rylance won a British BAFTA award for his role in Bridge Of Spies. He plays a giant through motion capture technology in Spielberg's upcoming Walt Disney film The BFG.
REUTERS
