Jodie Foster's best ever Oscars was one where she didn't win

The Nyad star explained why it isn't all about winning during awards season.

SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 14: Jodie Foster attends the 29th Annual Critics Choice Awards at Barker Hangar on January 14, 2024 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
Jodie Foster says the Oscars are better when you don't win. (FilmMagic)

What did you miss?

Jodie Foster won't be too disappointed if she doesn't pick up an Oscar this year as she has revealed her best ever Academy Awards ceremony was one where she didn't win.

The Hollywood veteran has been nominated in the best supporting actress category for Nyad, a biopic about swimmer Diana Nyad where she stars alongside Annette Bening and Rhys Ifans.

But on Thursday's This Morning, she admitted the best time she had ever had at the Oscars was a year when she didn't win her category.

What, how, and why?

Annette Bening and Jodie Foster will both return to the Oscars red carpet thanks to their work in biopic Nyad. (Netflix)
Annette Bening and Jodie Foster will both return to the Oscars red carpet thanks to their work in biopic Nyad. (Netflix)

Jodie Foster is a veteran of the awards circuit, having just picked up her fifth Oscars nomination, this time for best supporting actress in Nyad.

But while many a Hollywood star will be stressing over whether their name will be read out as a winner at the Academy Awards, Foster has admitted her best ceremony was one where she didn't win.

Speaking on Thursday's This Morning about her lead role in TV series True Detective: Night Country, talk turned to this year's Oscars nominations.

Host Alison Hammond asked her: "I've got a feeling you're one of these people who's not defined by awards and trophies, but is it nice?"

Foster replied: "It's nice! When I was a kid we'd all go to my mom's room, we had a black and white TV and we'd watch the Oscars as kids. It has a nostalgia to me, I never thought that I would be a part of that community."

SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 14: Jodie Foster attends the 29th Annual Critics Choice Awards at The Barker Hangar on January 14, 2024 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)
Jodie Foster says she had a great time not winning an award. (FilmMagic)

But as presenter Dermot O'Leary asked her about previous comments that she'd made about the Oscars being better if you didn't win because it took the pressure off, Foster shared that she had loved the 1994 ceremony where she was nominated for best actress for Nell.

She said: "The best Oscars I ever had, I was nominated for Nell, I didn't win, but my best friend in the whole world was nominated for a short. We went together, he was my date, we sat next to each other and he won. I knew where everything was, I was like grab that bottle of champagne! We spent the whole evening driving around the city, hanging outside the window with his Oscar, it was definitely the best one ever."

Foster got her first Oscars nomination for Taxi Driver back in 1976 and said: "I was really scared and when they said my name, I broke out in hives. So I had welts all over my face and my body."

What else happened on This Morning?

Kali Reis as Evangeline Navarro & Jodie Foster as Liz Danvers in True Detective: Night Country. (HBO/Sky)
Kali Reis and Jodie Foster star in True Detective: Night Country. (HBO/Sky)

Foster appeared alongside her True Detective co-star Kali Reis, a professional boxer who features in the series as just her third acting role.

Asked how she had made the move from boxing to acting, Reis shared the surprising story: "Actually I got contacted through social media for my first project."

Hammond asked: "What, like a DM?" and Reis replied: "Slid into my DMs. Answer your DMs! Thank god for Instagram. A week before (a director) hit me up on Instagram I was getting the acting bug and I thought, if it's meant for me, it'll find me. And it came a knockin'."

She said of working with Foster: "I did have a fangirl moment when I walked into the first rehearsal, but I was like I can't let them see me sweat."

This Morning airs on ITV at 10am on weekdays.

Read more: True Detective