Ruffalo wins first Globe; Foster thanks Rodgers
The fourth time was the charm for Mark Ruffalo: The Kenosha native won his first Golden Globe award Sunday night, for best actor in a TV movie for HBO’s “I Know This Much Is True.”
The role — in which Ruffalo plays identical twins, one of whom suffers from paranoid schizophrenia — also brought him an Emmy last fall, and another nomination at the 2021 Screen Actors Guild Awards. (The latter event airs live at 8 p.m. April 4 on TBS and TNT.)
Ruffalo had been nominated for Golden Globe three times before: for best actor in a comedy or musical for the 2014 movie “Infinitely Polar Bear”; best actor in a TV movie or miniseries for “The Normal Heart”; and best supporting actor in a movie for 2014’s “Foxcatcher,” as former University of Wisconsin-Madison wrestling coach David Schultz.
The Golden Globes ceremony has a reputation for being as much a party as an awards show. But this year’s ceremony was, like everything else, reshaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, with presenters and co-hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on stages in New York City and Beverly Hills, and nominees and award winners shown via remote video — the most star-studded Zoom meeting ever.
And with that went the glitches we’ve all seen during virtual meetings in the pandemic: microphones left on mute, people talking over each other or not sure if they should be talking, cameras left on too long.
Voted on by the 87-member Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the Golden Globes have a mixed reputation, as both a sham and an early indicator of the Academy Awards. Last week, the Los Angeles Times published a scathing analysis of the HFPA, showing it had, among other things, a history of blocking experienced journalists from joining the association and dragged its feet making its membership more inclusive. None of the HFPA’s members are Black.
In a sober moment in the telecast, the leaders of the HFPA vowed to be more inclusive.
Other than Ruffalo’s win, Wisconsin connections at Sunday night’s Globes were sparse. Jodie Foster, something of a surprise winner for best supporting actor in a film for her performance in “The Mauritanian,” included Aaron Rodgers in her list of people she thanked (Foster’s a huge Green Bay Packers fan; Rodgers also name-checked Foster when he accepted the NFL’s most valuable player award earlier this year).
“Nomadland” won two of the night’s top awards, best motion picture drama and best director, for Chloe Zhao. Zhao is just the second woman to win for best director (Barbra Streisand was the first, for 1983’s “Yentl.”)
Chadwick Boseman’s win for best actor in a drama movie for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” marked only the second posthumous best-actor winner at the Globes (the first — Peter Finch for 1977’s “Network”).
In the television categories, “The Crown” was the big winner with four Golden Globes, including TV drama series. “Schitt’s Creek,” the big winner at last fall’s Emmy Awards, took home two Globes, including best TV comedy series.
For a complete list of winners, go to