Golden Globes: Chloé Zhao makes history, The Crown wins big

The Golden Globes kicked off virtually this year, after the ceremony was delayed for 2 months due to the Coronavirus.

Among the big winners was Netflix's The Crown, which swept up four of its 6 nominations. Emma Corrin won for her performance as Diana, and Josh O'Connor picked up the award for Best Actor in a television series, while Gillian Anderson took home the Best Supporting Actress award, and the show itself won for Best Drama Series.

Chloé Zhao made history as the second woman to ever win Best Director, after Barbra Streisand, and the first-ever Asian woman to take home the trophy. Her film Nomadland stars Frances McDormand, and follows a woman in her sixties who dwells in a van after losing everything in the Great Recession. The film also won for Best Motion Picture, Drama, beating out The Trial of The Chicago 7, David Fincher's Mank, Promising Young Woman, and The Father. 

Elsewhere in the film categories, Andra Day picked up a trophy for her portrayal of blues and jazz legend Billie Holiday in The United States vs. Billie Holiday, and Sacha Baron Cohen and his film Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm picked up two awards, Jodie Foster won for her role in The Mauritanian, and Chadwick Boseman took home a well-deserved posthumous award for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, the Netflix-produced film adaptation of the August Wilson play of the same name.

His widow delivered an impassioned speech on the late actor's behalf, saying: “He would thank God, he would thank his parents. He would thank his ancestors for their guidance and their sacrifices.

“He would say something beautiful,” Ledward continues. “Something inspiring, something that would amplify that little voice inside of all of us that tells you you can. That tells you to keep going. That calls you back to what you are meant to be doing at this moment in history. He would thank Mr. George C. Wolfe, Mr. Denzel Washington, lots of people at Netflix. He would thank Mrs. Viola Davis,” among many others.

“I don’t have his words, but we have to take all the moments to celebrate those we love, so thank you, HFPA, for this opportunity to do exactly that. And, hon? You keep ’em coming,” she concluded.

Elsewhere in the television categories, Canadian actress Catherine O'Hara picked up a well-deserved win for the role of Moira Rose in Canadian television comedy Schitt's Creek, which also picked up a trophy for Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy.

Normal People, the television adaptation of Sally Rooney's debut novel, unfortunately lost the Best Limited Drama Series category to Netflix's The Queens Gambit. Brendan Gleeson, nominated for playing Donald Trump in The Comey Rule, was beat to the Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series prize by John Boyega, who gave a career-defining performance in Small Axe. 

Watch Amy Poehler and Tina Fey deliver their opening monologue, delivered to a socially-distanced crowd of "smoking hot" frontline workers below. See the full list of winners here.