Cleaning Lady To Leading Lady Olivia's Road Oscars Glory

Heading into the Oscars, she certainly wasn’t the favourite to win Best Actress – despite it being the name of the film she starred in.

- Adan Stone

But Olivia Colman proved the bookies wrong and took to the stage to receive the gong, ahead of the likes of front-runner Glenn Close and Lady Gaga, with the English star’s speech breathless and bewildered but entirely lovable. The 45-year-old has been busily working away for years, after getting her first break in the TV series The Mitchell and Webb Situation.

Here in New Zealand she really came to our attention in the gripping TV series Broadchurch as well as The Night Manager and has been in demand ever since.

Shortly after her win, the mum of three revealed how she’s feeling about her magical moment and what’s coming up next.

Congratulations! How does it feel to be an Oscar winner?

I don’t know! I just can’t believe it. I’m honestly stunned. It’s going to take a long time for this to sink in.

What was going through your mind when your name was announced as the winner?

Just pure shock. Everything else was a blur of trying not to trip over and to remember to thank everybody – which hopefully I did!

You mentioned your first job as a cleaner in your acceptance speech. What kind of cleaner were you?