The Fighter star says winning Oscar ‘has not been very good for me or my career’

Melissa Leo has made the surprising admission that she had a “much better career” before she won an Oscar for the sports biopic The Fighter.

The 65-year-old actor earned the Academy Award in 2011 for her supporting performance in David O. Russell’s movie as Alice Ward, the mother of real-life boxers Micky Ward and his half-brother Dicky Eckland, portrayed in the film by Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, respectively. Bale also won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role.

In a recent interview published in The Guardian, Leo responded to a reader’s question about what went through her mind when she went up to receive the coveted award.

“One loses one’s mind,” she admitted. “I had won a lot of prestigious awards for The Fighter that season, and sat in that great gigantic theatre thinking: ‘Well, it certainly is possible.’”

She recalled: “Kirk Douglas came out to present the best supporting actress award, opened the envelope and called my name. I was so delighted to meet him — that was all I was thinking about.

open image in gallery

open image in gallery

“I turned to the house, which in most theatres, you can see by looking a little above your own eyesight,” she remembered. “In the Dolby theatre, you have to raise your chin like you’re about to scale Mount Everest. Every single actor, director and producer you recognize, is staring you in the face.”

Leo revealed that after taking the stage to accept the award, “I then cursed, and I’m still sorry I cursed. I f***ing curse all the time, but you cannot curse on network television. Thank God for the 10-second delay, which was introduced for f***ing idiots like me.”

“Having said that, winning an Oscar has not been good for me or my career,” she declared, confessing, “I didn’t dream of it, I never wanted it, and I had a much better career before I won.”

Responding to a separate reader, Leo explained that following her acclaimed performance in The Fighter, she was only offered roles as “older, nasty women.”

“I don’t want to do that any more,” she said. “The mark of a really good actor is one that has a range and doesn’t just show up in the same role again and again. I’m happy to play what I’m offered — apart from after The Fighter.”

While The Fighter was Leo’s first-ever Oscar win, it was her second nomination. She had previously landed a Best Actress nod in 2009 for her lead role in the crime drama Frozen River.

She went on to win a Primetime Emmy Award in 2013 for her guest role on Louis C.K.’s comedy drama series, Louie. She later starred in the 2017 Netflix film The Most Hated Woman in America as American Atheists founder Madalyn Murray O’Hair.

However, Leo has spent much of the past decade appearing in a string of low-budget thrillers and straight-to-streaming dramas, including The Clean Up Crew (2024) and Guns Up (2025).