The Imitation Game screenwriter Graham Moore has won the Academy Award for best adapted screenplay.

Moore took the stage, and thanked his collaborators on The Imitation Game, then opened up about his life; mentioning his attempted suicide as a youth and giving a message of hope to teens out there now.

“When was was 16 years old I tried to kill myself because I felt weird and I felt different and I felt like I did not belong. And now, I’m standing here.

And so I would like this moment to be for that kid out there who feels like she’s weird or she’s different and she doesn’t fit in anywhere. Yes, you do. Stay weird and stay different.”

Graham Moore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGF8bzeRwcw

The Imitation Game screenplay is based on the biography Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges, which tells the story of Alan Turing, the father of modern computing, who cracked impossible German codes in World War II and helped end the war, only for Turning to later be criminally prosecuted for his homosexuality.

Best adapted screenplay was one of the most fiercely competitive categories at this year’s ceremony – The Theory of Everything writer Anthony McCarten and Whiplash writer/director Damien Chazelle were also considered frontrunners.