Jamie Lee Curtis Brings Jodie Foster To Tears During Tribute Speech At 2024 Oscars

It was a night of dreams realized and delayed, expectations matched, surpassed, and challenged. But before an award was even presented, Jodie Foster grew tearful thanks to a powerful speech delivered by Jamie Lee Curtis, who showered the Contact star with praise as an actor and a friend.

March 10 marked the 96th Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. On Sunday, Curtis presented the award for Best Supporting Actress, after she herself won for her performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once. But all of Curtis’s thoughts were on Foster, with whom she shares a long friendship.

Jamie Lee Curtis gushes about Jodie Foster during her 2024 Oscars presentation

65-year-old Curtis took to the stage on Sunday to present the award for Best Supporting Actress; former winners Lupita Nyong’o, Rita Moreno, Regina King, and Mary Steenburgen also contributed to presenting the nominees, who included America Ferrera (Barbie), Emily Blunt, (Oppenheimer), and Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple). Ultimately, the award went to Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers).

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First, however, Curtis took time to sing Foster’s praises for her performance in Netflix’s Nyad. “So I am thrilled to be back on this stage to present this year’s best Supporting Actress Oscar, and I am beyond proud to be able to take about one of my besties,” said Curtis. “So in Nyad, Jodie Foster brings a physical intensity, coupled with deep concern and care as Bonnie Stoll to Diana Nyad’s fierce best friend, motivator and serious ass-kicker.”

She added, “And speaking from personal experience, all of those qualities are very really about Jodie as well. There is no one you would rather have your back than the multi-talented Jodie Foster.”

Jodie Foster and Jamie Lee Curtis have a long and storied friendship

Curtis and Foster’s paths cross indirectly through Freaky Friday, with Foster playing the daughter of Barbara Andrews’ character in 1976, before Curtis would play the mother in 2003 opposite Lindsay Lohan. But when the cameras aren’t rolling, the two are thick as thieves and some of their friendship showed when, during Curtis’s speech, Foster grew visibly emotional and tearful – but that didn’t stop her from blowing a few kisses to the stage.

“Just so you know, she is one of my best friends,” shared Curtis back in January for the Today show. “She’s in a group with her wife, my husband, and our other friend — we call them “Besties.’ We’re in a text chain together. And at the Golden Globes two years ago, the one during COVID, she won a Golden Globe and I presented it and when I opened it I went, ‘Oh, my bestie!’ So I know Jodie.'”

Foster corroborated this the next day, saying, “She’s my bestie. We have a group; it’s a group of us, six of us, and we do everything together.”

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