Some deemed it as an award-worthy film the day after the Coming of Age story made its smash hit box office debut and, like some have predicted, Moonlight won at the Golden Globes this year. Mahershala Ali joined his fellow cast members in accepting the award for Best Drama Picture at the 2017 ceremony on Sunday.

“As someone who went 8 years without making a piece, I gotta give love to these people right here, Plan B and A24, A24, A24,” Barry Jenkins said of his movie. The filmmaker continued, “To my mom…Denzel [Washington] says in Fences, ‘I ‘dun gave you everything, I gave you your life.’ Mom, you gave me my life, and I hope being on this stage right now is fulfillment of the life that you gave me.”

Jenkins also thanked his fans who spread the news about his production by word of mouth and social media. “To everybody on Twitter and Instagram and back home in Miami and New Orleans, if you have seen this film or you have told a friend, all I ever say is please tell a friend, tell a friend, tell a friend. Much love,” he said.

Mahershala Ali, who portrays local drug dealer Juan in the film, also commented on the movie’s spectacular success. “I was blown away,” he told E! News.

“I actually cried a couple of times because it was just so beautiful on paper. It was a tough read but you could really connect with the characters. It felt so human,” he added.

“I think Moonlight reminds me that we need to be supportive of people coming to terms with who they are and in their own time,” Ali explained.”We need to be supportive of people’s journeys of their own self-realization.”

Mahershala Ali is definitely taking the concept of support and self-realization to another level as a father-to-be. “That’s been my proudest moment,” the actor told ET Online last month, “getting ready to be a dad in a month and a half.”

Mahershala Ali and wife Amatus Sami-Karim are expecting their first child to arrive in coming weeks.

Photo: Getty Images