Los Angeles - Patricia Arquette won the best supporting actress Oscar on Sunday for her role in coming-of-age drama Boyhood by Richard Linklater.
She beat Laura Dern (Wild), Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game), Emma Stone (Birdman) and Meryl Streep (Into The Woods) in the category, half-way through the 3.5-hour show.
It was Arquette's first Academy Award, and she used her moment of Oscar glory to make an impassioned plea for equal rights for American women.
“To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody's equal rights,” she said.
“It is our time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America,” she added to robust applause in the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
Meryl Streep stood up and pointed to Arquette, applauding her message.
The 46-year-old Arquette previously won Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA honours as well as a Golden Globe for her portrayal in Boyhood of a Texas mother trying to raise a family against the odds.
AFP