The 39-year-old looked shocked on Sunday evening as he accepted the award for best actor, beating the likes of Timothée Chalamet and Leonardo DiCaprio. Jordan's recognition comes after more than two decades in the industry, having started acting at just 15 when he played Wallace, a young drug dealer in the first season of the HBO drama The Wire. Jordan also collaborated with Coogler in 2018 with Black Panther where he played Erik Killmonger, one of the most memorable antagonists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Though they often get nods in smaller categories like best makeup or special effects, it's historically rare for the actors or the film as a whole to be appreciated – the last time a horror won best picture was The Silence of the Lambs in the early 1990s. His company has also snapped up the rights with Amazon to author Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros' fantasy novels, which have sold millions of copies globally in 40 languages. Fourth Wing introduces heroine Violet Sorrengail, a 20-year-old woman who is thrust into brutal training to become an elite dragon rider.