Source: Getty / Kevin Winter [1]

Eddie Redmayne won the best actor Oscar for his work in The Theory of Everything at the Academy Awards in LA on Sunday, and it was clear in his acceptance speech [2] how excited he was about the honor. Surprisingly, though, the award wasn't the main thing going through his mind as he took the stage. Eddie shared in the press room after the show that one of the more exciting elements of the win was "the fact that Cate Blanchett was giving it." He added:

"I did a film called Elizabeth: The Golden Age with Cate, and it was one of the first films I did. I think she's such an exceptional actor, so I was recovering from that excitement of seeing her and then just trying to bury all this frenzy of nerves and white noise and trying to speak articulately, and of course you then forget everything. It just felt like euphoria, extraordinary euphoria. Something I will not forget in a hurry."

It may have helped that Eddie's been on the Oscars stage before and had plenty of support from good friends.

"I was really not that nervous, because three years ago I came to the Oscars for the first time with Les Mis, and I had to sing live on stage. Just before going on, someone with a headset said 'that's a billion people watching.' That's too much stress for your vocal chords to possibly consider, so that was such a terrifying prospect that today felt much more relaxing. You either win or you lose either way — I was so thrilled to be invited to the party. What's been lovely is actually staying in a hotel just down the road with Tom Sturridge and Sienna Miller, old friends of mine, Emma Stone, and my wife, Hannah, are there. So pals are there, so it's felt very special the past half a day."