Cillian Murphy comments on being the first Irish-born star to win Best Actor

Cillian Murphy is as proud as punch to become the first Irish-born star to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.

At the Oscars ceremony on Sunday evening, Murphy beat stiff competition from Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers), Bradley Cooper (Maestro), Colman Domingo (Rustin) and Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction) to win the accolade.

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Murphy won for his performance in Christopher Nolan's epic drama about the birth of the atomic bomb, Oppenheimer.

"I'm in a little bit of a daze, I'm very overwhelmed. I'm very humbled. I'm very grateful and you know, very proud to be Irish standing here today," he said shortly after winning the award.

When asked by an Irish journalist how he felt about being the first Irishman to win the Best Actor award, he responded:

"It's really really meaningful to me. I don't know if I said this in my speech, because I can't remember what I said. I did want to say that I think in Ireland we are really great at supporting artists and I think we need to continue to support artists and the next generation of actors and directors. I think that's vitally important."

Cillian Murphy content with his career

Murphy and Nolan have collaborated on six projects over the last 20 years, and the former admits he would be content with being known known for Oppenheimer and his relationship with the director.

"Very content. I mean, you got to move forward, but this has been a huge, huge moment for me," he the Oscar winner explained.

"The movie is so special to me, and myself and Chris have such a special relationship.

"And I just feel very privileged to be able to continue to work with him and I'm very proud that this is a film that is provocative, and that asks questions, and is challenging, but yet so many people went to see it, so I'm really really proud of that."