Lily Gladstone's High School Yearbook Said She Was 'Most Likely to Win an Oscar' Years Before Nomination
“Everybody will want to be your friend when you win your Oscar,” the 'Killers of the Flower Moon' star previously told PEOPLE of her dad's wise words
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Lily Gladstone at the Governors Awards in Los Angeles on Jan. 9, 2024Lily Gladstone's high-school superlative may have been right on the money!
The Killers of the Flower Moon star, 37, is in the running for Best Actress at the upcoming Academy Awards. And back in high school, the 2004 graduate was named "Most Likely to Win an Oscar" alongside classmate Josh Ryder, as seen in a photo that has been making the rounds.
In the snapshot, a teenage Gladstone and Ryder are posing while sporting hilariously somber expressions as Ryder holds a wooden doll, presumably meant to jokingly represent a golden Oscar statuette. The text on the photo lists their names underneath, with "Most Likely to Win as Oscar" written along the top.
Following her history-making nomination, which was announced Tuesday, Ryder told Entertainment Tonight of the viral yearbook photo, "One of the nicest things about it, honestly, is the way that it's kind of reunited my high-school class."
"Everybody's so excited about this," he added of Gladstone's Oscar nod.
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Ryder video chatted with Gladstone recently amid her fruitful awards season, calling her a "class" act and giving her major props for her accomplishments.
Sharing footage from the call on Instagram Jan. 8, Ryder wrote, "Golden Globes knew what’s up, now it’s time for @theacademy to follow. Y’all ain’t seen nothing yet from my home girl; this is just the beginning. Go, Lily, go!"
"I’ll never get over this 😂," Gladstone said in a comment.
Following her Oscar nomination on Tuesday, Ryder told ET, "I don't think I had the capacity necessarily to think, or the understanding of what it would take to put oneself in that position to be nominated for an Oscar, and Lily has done it."
"And it is extraordinary that she did such high-caliber work, and is getting recognized for it rightfully," added the chef/owner of Betty Restaurant & Bar in Seattle.
Amy Sussman/Getty
Lily Gladstone at the Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles on Jan. 7, 2024Related: 2024 Oscar Nominations: Barbie, Oppenheimer and American Fiction Among Nominees — See the Full List
In Killers of the Flower Moon, Gladstone plays Mollie Burkhart, based on a real-life woman who was a member of the Osage Nation. Mollie's family members, including her mother and sisters, were killed by men over their rights to oil reserves located underneath their reservation in Oklahoma.
Gladstone, who is of Siksikaitsitapi and Niimiipuu heritage, is the first Native American actress to be nominated for an Oscar. She's also the fourth Indigenous actress to ever earn a nomination in the Best Actress category.
In a recent chat with PEOPLE, the actress remembered her father, Howard, giving her a pep talk after a particularly bad round of bullying when she was a kid, saying, “Everybody will want to be your friend when you win your Oscar."
And during Gladstone’s sophomore year of high school, her very first boyfriend gave her a meaningful gift: "little tiny kids' glasses with stars on them" from a prize machine, which were meant to be saved for a very special time.
“He said, ‘You have to keep these and you have to wear them to the Academy Awards when you go one year,’ ” she told PEOPLE.
The 96th Academy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will air live on Sunday, March 10, from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, beginning at 7 p.m. ET.
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