Golden Globes: Paul Giamatti Dedicates His Best Actor Win for ‘The Holdovers’ to Teachers

took home the award for best actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy, at the on Sunday. Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell presented the actor with the award for his role as Paul Hunham in . This was Giamatti’s sixth Golden Globe nomination and third win. “Surely this is the first time this award has been given to an actor who has played a man who smells like fish,” Giamatti quipped while accepting the honor.

“Thank you, ,” he continued. “Thank you to [director] Alexander Payne, Alexander the great, [who] for some mysterious reason continues to have enormous faith in me and why? I don’t know why.” Giamatti also showed his appreciation for other creatives who worked on the film, his girlfriend and his son, who recently graduated from college.

The , directed by Alexander Payne, follows a cranky history teacher at a remote prep school who is forced to remain on campus over the holidays with a troubled student who has no place to go. “It’s a movie about a teacher,” Giamatti concluded. “I play teacher, my whole family, they’re teachers, all of them going back generations.

Teachers are good people, gotta respect them. They do a good thing. It’s a tough job, so this is for teachers as well.” Giamatti beat out Jeffrey Wright for , Joaquin Phoenix for , Matt Damon for , Nicolas Cage for and Timothée Chalamet for . The 2024 Golden Globes are airing on CBS after years at NBC.

(Golden Globes producer Dick Clark Productions is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and Eldridge that also owns .) THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day More from The Hollywood Reporter.