Once a Pearson, always a Pearson. The cast of This Is Us is celebrating Sterling K. Brown after the actor received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role as Clifford in American Fiction.
“What a day!! Congrats and love you, @sterlingkbrown. You deserve it all!” Mandy Moore, who played the Pearson family matriarch, wrote via her Instagram Stories. Susan Kelechi Watson, Brown’s onscreen wife Beth Pearson, also took a moment to celebrate, writing via Instagram, “Academy Award Nominee, @SterlingKBrown!!! End of post ❤️👑🙏🏽.”
Eris Baker, who played Brown’s eldest daughter, Tess Pearson, shared her congratulations via her Instagram Story. “No one more deserving <3. Sending all my love to Sterling K. Brown!!!” she wrote.
Chrissy Metz, Brown’s onscreen sister, Kate, gushed, “Congratulations, @SterlingKBrown!” via her Instagram Story, while Chris Sullivan, who played Kate’s first husband, Toby, told Brown to “Win em all! Congratulations buddy!”
Brown, for his part, shared that he found out about his Academy Award nomination after falling asleep on his children’s floor — and waking up to almost 200 text messages.
“Thank you to the Academy,” Brown said during an Instagram Live on Tuesday. “As somebody who has been watching the Oscars my whole life, I’ve never been. I’ve had a few things that have been in contention or whatnot but this will be my first time actually going to the party. And It’s an honor to get the invite.”
Brown added that he was really looking for validation from his son Andrew after the 12-year-old told him to “take it down” on bragging until an Oscar nomination came through. At the end of the day, Andrew had one thing to say about his dad’s major milestone: “Congratulations.” (Brown shares Andrew and Amaré, 7, with wife Ryan Michelle Bathe.)
American Fiction, which follows a frustrated novelist who’s fed up with the establishment that profits from Black entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes, received a whopping five Oscar nods on Tuesday, including Jeffrey Wright for Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score. The movie is also nominated for Best Picture, where it will go up against Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Past Lives, Poor Things and The Zone of Interest.
Also nominated in Sterling’s Best Supporting Actor category are Mark Ruffalo for Poor Things, Robert Downey Jr. for Oppenheimer, Ryan Gosling for Barbie and Robert De Niro for Killers of the Flower Moon.
Brown’s nomination is his first at the Academy Awards but the actor has received plenty of critical acclaim for his past roles, including for his time on This Is Us. Brown portrayed Randall Pearson on the NBC series, one-third of the big three triplets who’s lives are changed forever following the tragic death of their father, Jack (Milo Ventimiglia).
Throughout the show’s six seasons, Brown nabbed three Primetime Emmy nominations, winning in 2017. His performance also earned him a Golden Globe and four SAG Awards.
Brown has also earned Emmy nods for his roles on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, for which he took home the win in 2018. In 2021, he won the Emmy for Outstanding Narrator for Lincoln: Divided We Stand.
The 96th Academy Awards air on ABC Sunday, March 10 at 7 p.m. ET.
