The 83rd Academy Awards were held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on 27 February 2011, with the ceremony beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST. Tom Hooper appeared on the red carpet for the arrivals before the show got under way.
Hooper won the Oscar for Best Director for The King's Speech, one of four Academy Awards the film collected that night. It also took best picture, with David Seidler winning for writing and Colin Firth named best actor.
Accepting the directing award, Hooper explained that his mother had been invited to a fringe theatre play reading in 2007, an event she nearly skipped, and that she called him afterward convinced she had found his next film. He closed by telling the audience, "With this tonight, I honor you, and the moral of the story is: Listen to your mother."
He also thanked his cast, saying, "Thank you to my wonderful actors, the triangle of man-love which is Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and me. I'm only here because of you guys." He was later pictured with his Best Director award alongside Kathryn Bigelow in the Academy Awards press room.