Charles Melton was honored at the Critics Choice Celebration of Black, Latino & AAPI Achievements and broke down accepting his award.
Melton took his mother, Sukyong Melton, to the celebration, and during his acceptance speech for the Breakthrough Performance accolade for his work in May December, couldn’t hold back his emotions.
“I stand today in front of my mother,” Melton said before pausing and receiving applause from the audience. “You are my hero.”
After gathering himself and taking another deep breath, Melton continued, “Thank you critics. Your acknowledgment of my work is incredibly meaningful to me. I extend my deepest respect and appreciation to each and every one of you. Thank you again so much. Thank you to Netflix for all of their support.”
May December is a drama film directed by Todd Haynes from a screenplay by Samy Burch. The Netflix movie is based on a story by Burch and Alex Mechanik starring Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Melton.
The premise of the film revolves around an actress, played by Portman, who travels to Georgia to meet and stuff the life of a controversial woman, played by Moore. Moore’s character lives in infamy after a 23-year relationship with her husband (Melton) that began when he was only 13.
The cast includes Cory Michael Smith, Elizabeth Yu, Gabriel Chung, Piper Curda, D.W. Moffett and Lawrence Arancio.
Check out Melton’s emotional speech in the video posted below.
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