Oscars 2023: James Martin, actor with Down Syndrome, celebrates his birthday by winning a statuette
The audience at the 2023 Oscars sang 'Happy Birthday' to actor James Martin.
This new Oscar Awards gala has left moments that will remain forever in history, from Brendan Fraser's emotional speech to John Travolta's tears when talking about Olvia Newton-John.
In turn, another of the most iconic moments has been starred by the Irish actor James Martin, who participated in the film “An Irish Goodbye”.
Also called “An Irish Goodby”, this production won the statuette in the best short film category, and the directors, Ross White and Tom Berkely, took the stage with the main cast.
The audience sang “Happy Birthday” to James Martin
James Martin is an actor with Down Syndrome and upon receiving the precious statuette he gave a thank you speech, but he also took the opportunity to tell everyone that it was his birthday: “To all the nominees, your work has inspired us a lot, thanks to everyone in Northern Ireland, we would have loved to name them all, but you know who they are. Something very important that we want is that it is the second prize that we have won and the best thing is that it is my birthday, we are in Hollywood, in a tuxedo and celebrating”.
That is why the director Tom Berkeley asked the audience present at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles to accompany him to sing happy birthday to Martin: “There is something very important that we have to talk about and that is that today is the birthday of this man and he's here in Hollywood in a leopard suit.”
“An Irish Goodby”
This short film presents the story of the reunion of two brothers after the death of their mother, who must also fulfill a wish list that their mother left before her death.
In the synopsis of this film you can read:
In a rural area of Northern Ireland, the Turlough brothers and Lorcan meet again after the unexpected death of their mother. But the brothers' painful return home is made worse by the fact that Turlough has to relocate Lorcan, who has Down's Syndrome. When the brothers discover an unfulfilled wish list from his mother, Lorcan sees an opportunity: he'll only agree to leave the farm if he and Turlough fulfill all the wishes on that list… All 100.