Zoe Saldana accepts the award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for “Emilia Perez” onstage during the 97th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 2, 2025.
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
Zoe Saldaña won best supporting actress at the 2025 Oscars on Sunday (March 2) for her role in Emilia Pérez. Her performance included performing the song “El Mal,” which won best original song. This is only the fifth time in Oscar history that someone has won a competitive Oscar for a performance that included singing the song that won best original song.
In addition, two actors received honorary Oscars for performances that included singing the best original song winner. Honorary awards are lovely, but winning in a competitive race is everything, especially at EGOT-level award shows.
Still, let’s give those two recipients of honorary Oscars a shout-out. In 1940, Judy Garland received an honorary Oscar inscribed “To Judy Garland for her outstanding performance as a screen juvenile during the past year.” Her unforgettable performance that year was playing Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, in which she sang the best original song winner “Over the Rainbow” (which was co-written by Harold Arlen and E.Y Harburg).
In 1948, James Baskett received an honorary Oscar “for his able and heart-warming characterization of Uncle Remus, friend and story teller to the children of the world in Walt Disney’s Song of the South.” That performance included singing the Oscar-winning song “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” (which was co-written by Allie Wrubel and Ray Gilbert). The film is now seen as racist, but it’s not fair to discredit the song for the shortcomings of the film.
Here are the five actors who won Oscars in competitive categories for a performance that included singing a song that won an Oscar. The years shown are the years of the Oscar ceremonies. We also show excerpts from the actors’ Oscar acceptance speeches.
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Bing Crosby (1945)
Notes: Crosby, the top musical performer of the 1930s and 1940s, won best actor for playing Father O’Malley in Going My Way. His role included singing the charming best original song winner “Swinging on a Star” (co-written by James Van Heusen and Johnny Burke).
On the charts: Crosby’s recording of the song topped a pre-Hot 100 Billboard songs chart for nine weeks. A cover version by Big Dee Irwin with Little Eva reached No. 38 on the Hot 100 in 1963. Nominated songs were not performed on the Oscar ceremony in the early years of the Oscars. That tradition started the following year, in 1946.
Giving Thanks: “I couldn’t be more surprised if I won the Kentucky Derby. … This is a real land of opportunity when Leo [McCarey, the film’s producer/director] can take a broken-down old crooner and make an Academy Award winner out of him.” Note: The Oscars site doesn’t have transcripts of acceptance speeches for pre-televised ceremonies. These quotes are drawn from Mason Wiley & Damien Bona’s definitive Oscars history, Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards.]
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Julie Andrews (1965)
Notes: Andrews won best actress for playing the title role in Mary Poppins. Her role included singing the best song winner “Chim Chim Cher-ee” in tandem with co-stars Dick Van Dyke, Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber. (Andrews only comes in in the song’s final 25 seconds, but she brings it home.) The Sherman Brothers – Richard M. and Robert B. – co-wrote the song.
On the charts: The stars of the film declined to perform the song on the Oscars, so it was performed by The New Christy Minstrels, whose recording reached No. 81 on the Hot 100. The cast version bubbled under the Hot 100 at No. 123.
Giving Thanks: “I have so many thank yous. I only know where to start and that’s with Mr. Walt Disney [who produced the film] and naturally he has the largest thank you of all. I wouldn’t know where to stop.”
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Jeff Bridges (2010)
Notes: Bridges won best actor for playing Bad Blake in Crazy Heart. He and co-star Colin Farrell each performed the Oscar-winning song “The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)” (which was co-written by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett). Bingham and his Dead Horses serve as Bridges’ backing band in the film.
On the charts: Bingham’s recording of the song bubbled under the Hot 100 at No. 116. None of that year’s nominated songs were performed on the Oscar telecast.
Giving Thanks: “I wanna thank Scott Cooper, our wonderful director, for his knowledge of film and country music, and for his ability to instill self-confidence in his actors. I thank you for that, Scott. … And thank you for assembling such a wonderful cast. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin, wherever he is backstage, and Bobby Duvall. So wonderful, you guys brought your heart and soul. I want to thank Barry Markowitz, our wonderful [cinematographer], did such a brilliant job. Judy Cairo, our producer, and Fox Searchlight, our wonderful distributor. Thank you, guys, for keeping us all together and for making it all happen. T Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton, for bringing all of that great music and those wonderful musicians to the party, man.”
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Emma Stone (2017)
Notes: Stone won her first best actress award for playing Mia in La La Land. Her role included teaming with co-star Ryan Gosling to sing the Oscar-winning “City of Stars” (co-written by Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul).
On the charts: The original cast recording bubbled under the Hot 100 at No. 108. Stone also performed a second nominated song, “Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” in the film. Gosling and Stone declined to performed on the Oscar telecast, so both songs were performed by fellow cast member John Legend.
Giving Thanks: “I want to thank Damien Chazelle for the opportunity to be part of a project that was so special and once in a lifetime. I’m so grateful to have been involved in this film. And thank you for your faith and your patience and such a wonderful experience. And Ryan Gosling, thank you for making me laugh and for always raising the bar and for being the greatest partner on this crazy adventure. To our whole crew, everyone that put their heart and souls into this film, I’m gonna find you all individually and I’m gonna thank you.”
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Zoe Saldaña (2025)
Notes: Saldaña won best supporting actress for her role as Rita Mora Castro in Emilia Pérez. She sings the Oscar-winning song “El Mal” in tandem with co-star Karla Sofía Gascón. Clément Ducol and Camille teamed to write the song with the film’s writer and director Jacques Audiard.
On the charts: “El Mal” has yet to crack or bubble under the Hot 100.