46 Fun Facts About Golden Globes

Which organisation founded the Golden Globes and ran them until 2023?

Hollywood Foreign Press Association began in 1943 as the Hollywood Foreign Correspondents Association, formed by Los Angeles journalists writing for overseas outlets; it was dissolved in 2023 when the awards passed to private owners.

In which year was the first Golden Globe Awards ceremony held?

The first ceremony, honouring 1943 films, took place on January 20, 1944 at the 20th Century-Fox studios rather than a hotel ballroom.

In 1961 the Golden Globes moved to the International Ballroom of which hotel?

The Beverly Hilton, opened in 1955 on Wilshire Boulevard, first hosted the Globes in 1961 and became their permanent home; earlier shows used the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Hollywood Roosevelt and the Ambassador Hotel's Cocoanut Grove.

The Golden Globes split top film prizes into Drama and which other genre grouping?

Musical or Comedy has had its own Best Picture award since the 1952 ceremony, when An American in Paris won it; the split doubles the stars in the room and let The Martian win as a comedy in 2016.

Which film holds the record for most Golden Globes won by a single movie, going seven for seven in 2017?

La La Land took all seven of its 2017 nominations: Picture (comedy), Director, Actor, Actress, Screenplay, Score and Song, beating the record set by One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1976.

Which 1975 Robert Altman film received a record 11 Golden Globe nominations?

Nashville earned 11 nominations at the 1976 ceremony but won only one, for Keith Carradine's 'I'm Easy', which also took the Oscar for Best Original Song.

Which performer holds the record for the most Golden Globe nominations?

Meryl Streep has more Golden Globe nominations than any other performer, eight of them converted into wins, plus the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2017; she also holds the record for Oscar nominations.

In 2010, who became the first host of the Golden Globes since 1995?

Ricky Gervais hosted in 2010, returned in 2011 and 2012, and came back in 2016 and 2020, five shows in all, building a reputation for roasting the stars in the room.

Which comedy duo hosted the Golden Globes three years running from 2013 to 2015?

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted in 2013, 2014 and 2015, then returned in 2021 for a pandemic show split between New York's Rainbow Room and Beverly Hills.

Who was the second recipient, in 1953, of the Golden Globes' film lifetime achievement award?

Walt Disney received the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 1953 ceremony, a year after DeMille himself accepted the first one; the award honours a lifetime of contributions to film.

Who was the youngest ever Cecil B. DeMille Award honoree, receiving it at age 39 in 1962?

Judy Garland, born in June 1922, was 39 at the March 1962 ceremony and was also the first woman to receive the award; Joan Crawford followed eight years later.

In 1982, who became the first African-American recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award?

Sidney Poitier, the first Black Best Actor Oscar winner (1964), received the DeMille Award in 1982; Oprah Winfrey became the first Black woman honoured 36 years later, in 2018.

Jane Fonda received the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2021, how many years after her father Henry?

41 years separate the two: Henry Fonda was honoured in 1980, two years before his On Golden Pond Oscar, and Jane Fonda accepted hers at the 2021 ceremony.

The Golden Globes' TV lifetime-achievement award, created in 2019, is named after which comedian?

Carol Burnett was herself the first recipient of the Carol Burnett Award in 2019; later honorees include Ellen DeGeneres (2020), Norman Lear (2021) and Ryan Murphy (2023).

For which film did Barbra Streisand win the Golden Globe for Best Director?

Yentl brought Streisand the 1984 Best Director Globe, the first for a woman; she wrote, produced, directed and starred, and the film also won the comedy/musical picture prize.

Who became the second woman to win the Best Director Golden Globe, for Nomadland in 2021?

Chloé Zhao, born in Beijing, won for Nomadland at the 2021 ceremony, 37 years after Barbra Streisand's 1984 win; she went on to take the Best Director Oscar.

Which actor won the 2021 Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama posthumously?

Chadwick Boseman won for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom half a year after his death from colon cancer, which he had kept private; his widow Simone Ledward Boseman accepted in a tearful video speech.

Which film received the first Golden Globe for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement in 2024?

Barbie, the year's top-grossing film, won the inaugural Cinematic and Box Office Achievement prize in 2024; eligible films must gross at least $150 million worldwide, including $100 million in the United States.

Which film led the 2024 Golden Globes with five wins, including Best Motion Picture, Drama?

Oppenheimer won Picture (Drama), Director for Christopher Nolan, Actor for Cillian Murphy, Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr. and Score for Ludwig Göransson, then took seven Academy Awards including Best Picture.

Which Killers of the Flower Moon star became the first Indigenous Best Actress (Drama) Globe winner?

Lily Gladstone, who is Blackfeet and Nez Perce, opened her 2024 acceptance speech in the Blackfeet language; weeks later she became the first Native American nominated for the Best Actress Oscar.

Which comedian hosted the 2024 Golden Globes, drawing poor reviews for his monologue?

Jo Koy was announced as host on December 21, 2023, just 17 days before the show; his monologue jokes about Taylor Swift and the year's big films drew groans from the room and harsh reviews.

Who became the first woman to host the Golden Globes solo, in January 2025?

Nikki Glaser hosted the 82nd ceremony in January 2025, the first woman to do it alone; nominated the same night for her special Someday You'll Die, she lost to Ali Wong and was invited back for 2026.

Which film became the most-nominated comedy in Golden Globes history, with 10 nods in 2025?

Emilia Pérez, Jacques Audiard's Spanish-language musical, drew 10 nominations at the 2025 ceremony and won the comedy/musical picture prize, the first non-English-language film to do so.

Flow, the 2025 Best Animated Feature winner, was the first film from which country to win a Golden Globe?

Latvia had never won a Golden Globe before Gints Zilbalodis's Flow, a dialogue-free story of a cat surviving a flood, beat Pixar and DreamWorks; it later won the animated Oscar too.

Who is the mother of the 2025 Golden Globe Best Actress in a Drama winner for I'm Still Here?

Fernanda Montenegro, mother of winner Fernanda Torres, was herself nominated for Central Station at the 1999 ceremony; both films were directed by Walter Salles.

What new category did the Golden Globes introduce at the 2026 ceremony?

Best Podcast debuted at the 83rd ceremony in January 2026, with nominees drawn from a list of the 25 most-listened-to shows compiled from platform data.

The 2008 Golden Globes ceremony was cancelled and replaced by a press conference because of what?

A Writers Guild strike (November 2007 to February 2008) meant picket lines actors refused to cross, so the HFPA replaced the 2008 show with a half-hour press conference announcing winners.

Why was the 2022 Golden Globes ceremony held as a private, non-televised event?

A boycott by NBC and the studios over HFPA diversity followed a February 2021 Los Angeles Times exposé revealing the group had no Black members; NBC dropped the 2022 telecast and stars stayed away.

Which actor returned his three Golden Globes in 2021 in protest at the HFPA?

Tom Cruise returned his trophies for Born on the Fourth of July, Jerry Maguire and Magnolia in May 2021, as NBC announced it would not air the 2022 show.

Which network took over the Golden Globes broadcast from NBC starting with the January 2024 ceremony?

CBS aired the 81st ceremony on January 7, 2024, its first Globes telecast since 1982, then signed a five-year deal to keep the show.

Which US body accused the 1968 Golden Globes of misleading the public, prompting NBC to drop the show until 1974?

Federal Communications Commission findings in 1968 said the show misled viewers about how winners were chosen, with winners tipped off in advance; NBC refused to air the ceremony until 1974.

Whose 1982 New Star of the Year win became the Globes' most infamous vote-buying scandal?

Pia Zadora won New Star of the Year for Butterfly after her millionaire husband Meshulam Riklis flew HFPA voters to his Las Vegas casino, the Riviera; she had debuted as a child in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964).

In 2011 the HFPA was mocked for nominating which Depp and Jolie spy thriller as a comedy?

The Tourist, a Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie thriller panned by critics, drew three nominations in the comedy/musical field; Sony had reportedly flown voters to Las Vegas for a Cher concert tied to its film Burlesque.

Which American film about a Korean family in Arkansas did the HFPA controversially class as Foreign Language in 2021?

Minari, Lee Isaac Chung's Arkansas-set drama, won Best Foreign Language Film in 2021 because over half its dialogue is Korean; critics noted Inglourious Basterds and Babel had competed for Best Picture despite the same rule.

To be eligible for the Golden Globes, a film must run at least how many minutes?

70 minutes is the minimum running time; a film also needs a seven-day run in Greater Los Angeles before midnight on December 31, which may be on pay-per-view or by digital delivery.

What minimum share of non-English dialogue does a film need to qualify as a Golden Globe Foreign Language Film?

51 percent of the dialogue must be in a language other than English; such films need no US release at all, and there is no cap on how many one country can enter.

From 1963 until 2018 the trophies were handed out by a celebrity's child holding what title?

Miss Golden Globe began in 1963 and holders included Dakota Johnson, Melanie Griffith's daughter, in 2006 and Clint Eastwood's daughter Francesca in 2013; the role became Golden Globe Ambassador in 2018.

The Golden Globes' theme music, introduced in 2012, was written by which Japanese musician?

Yoshiki, drummer and pianist of X Japan, composed the Golden Globe Theme, first played at the 69th ceremony in January 2012; it was the awards' first official theme.

Which Pixar film was the first winner of the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature, introduced in 2007?

Cars won the inaugural Best Animated Feature award at the 64th ceremony in January 2007, beating Happy Feet and Monster House in a field of just three nominees.

Which actor won a 1998 Golden Globe for playing Don King and handed it to Jack Lemmon on stage?

Ving Rhames, winner for Don King: Only in America, called Jack Lemmon to the stage and gave him the trophy; Lemmon tried to refuse, and the HFPA later cast a duplicate so both could keep one.

Which Chicago Hope actress was in the bathroom when her 1998 Golden Globe win was announced?

Christine Lahti was in the ladies' room when her Chicago Hope win was announced and hurried to the stage after a delay; Renée Zellweger repeated the feat in 2001 for Nurse Betty.

Which actress first publicly discussed her sexuality in her 2013 Cecil B. DeMille Award speech?

Jodie Foster, then 50, used her Cecil B. DeMille Award speech at the January 2013 ceremony to speak publicly about being gay for the first time, in a speech that also paid tribute to her mother.

Which streaming service led all distributors with 36 nominations at the 2025 Golden Globes?

Netflix led all distributors with 36 nominations at the 2025 ceremony, spanning its films and series such as Nobody Wants This and The Diplomat.

The Henrietta Award for World Film Favorite was named after which press association president?

Henry Gris, a Hollywood correspondent who led the HFPA, lent a feminised form of his name to the award; first given in 1951 to Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman, it ran through 1980.

The first Golden Globe for Television Achievement was presented at the ceremony held in which year?

1956 brought the first television awards, at the 13th ceremony; regular categories for best series, actor and actress followed at the 19th ceremony in March 1962.

Which New York firm collaborated with the HFPA on the 2009 redesign of the Golden Globe statuette?

Society Awards, a New York trophy maker, worked with the HFPA for about a year on the 2009 statuette, adding a marble base and more gold to the globe; the design was unveiled before the 66th ceremony.