Demi Moore Wins Her First Major Acting Award at Age 62: 'I'm Just in Shock'

“I really wasn’t expecting that," said Demi Moore at the Golden Globes Jan. 5, after she stunned everyone in Hollywood by winning the Golden Globe for female lead actor in a motion picture musical or comedy in The Substance. "I’m just in shock right now."

It’s her first major industry acting honor at 62. Moore is also up for an AARP Movies for Grownups Award, so watch PBS on Sunday, February 23, 2025 at 7 PM ET/6 PM CT.

 “I’ve been doing this a long time, like over 45 years," said an emotional Moore, "and this is the first time I’ve ever won anything as an actor, and I’m just so humbled and so grateful."

Though she’s been nominated for three Golden Globes, she’s never won a prestigious award of any kind, despite starring in movies that grossed over $1.6 billion.

“Thirty years ago, I had a producer tell me that I was a ‘popcorn actress.’ And at that time, I made that to mean that (an award) wasn’t something that I was allowed to have. That I could do movies that were successful, that made a lot of money, but that I couldn’t be acknowledged. I bought in, and I believed that, and that corroded me over time, to the point where I thought a few years ago that maybe this was it.”

She almost quit the business because of Hollywood’s sexism towards actresses over 50 — and then she got the script for The Substance, an over-the-top horror flick about that very topic. Her character takes a substance that splits her into herself and a younger self, played by 30-year-old Margaret Qualley, who joined Moore on the Globes stage for a funny reprise of their intergenerational rivalry in the film.

“I’ll just leave you with one thing I think this movie is imparting,” Moore said, cradling her statuette. “In those moments when we don’t think we’re smart enough or pretty enough or skinny enough or successful enough or basically just not enough, I had a woman say to me, ‘Just know, you will never be enough, but you can know the value of your worth if you just put down the measuring stick.’”

Moore kicked open a door for all actresses of a certain age, and her dazzlingly eloquent, deeply moving Golden Globes speech was a brilliant performance in its own right. It will improve her future.

Said Variety pundit Jenelle Riley, 52, “Demi Moore’s Golden Globes speech might have just secured her an Oscar nomination.”

Oscar nominations are announced Jan. 17, 2025.