Ayo Edebiri won Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series at the Independent Spirit Price for his role in The bear.

“I didn’t really prepare any remarks and my manager gave me a piece of paper,” Edebiri began in his acceptance speech. “I just want to say, I’m really grateful. Yeah, that’s really nice and really cool.

She went on to say that it was important to her to see a room — uh, a tent — full of people who look and feel like her.

“I grew up and there were no people who looked like me or felt like me,” Edebiri continued. “It’s really good because I’m in a room full of people, who I really look up to and look up to, but there’s also a lot of people who look and feel like me, and that’s really GOOD.”

THE Spirit Award 2023 marked the first year of Film Independent’s move to gender-neutral categories for acting, which saw nominees in each category compete for the trophy alongside nine other people, instead of five.

Edebiri competed against Danielle Deadwyler (station eleven), Jeff Hiller (someone somewhere), Gbemisola Ikumelo (A league apart), Janelle James (Abbott Elementary School), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (the bear), Frankie Quiñones (This crazy guy), Sheryl Lee Ralph (Abbott Elementary School), Molly Shannon (I like it for you) and Tramell Tillman (Breakup).

Film Independent’s decision to create categories regardless of gender follows similar moves from the Gotham Awards and the MTV Movie & TV Awards, among other awards organizations, in recent years.

“We’re thrilled to join the other festivals and awards shows that are already traveling to celebrate great acting without reference to gender,” the organization’s president Josh Welsh said of the news in August. “We are also happy to welcome non-binary artists into the Spirit Awards without forcing them to choose to identify as male or female.”

THE Independent Spirit Award are streamed live on IMDb, as well as Film Independent’s various social platforms, its YouTube channel, Twitter and Facebook.

Discover the Spirit Awards star-studded red carpet arrivals here.