Every actor strives to be the best at his or her craft, whether it be comedy, drama, or a little bit of whatever Adam Sandler does. And to most, there is only one award that truly acknowledges this achievement… An Academy Award.

This past week, during the 88th Academy Awards, tensions were high as the nominations for best actor were announced. After a moment of silence, the seal was broken, the envelope opened, and it was declared that Leonardo DiCaprio won the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for the movie The Revenant.

When asked how he felt about Leo finally winning an Oscar, Junior Andrew Cathy responded with, “We lost a meme.”

So far, Leo has been nominated for 5 Academy Awards. In What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, he was nominated for the Best Actor in a Supporting Role Award, he and the rest of the crew were nominated for the Best Motion Picture of the Year Award for The Wolf of Wall Street, and he has been nominated for three Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Awards for his roles in The Aviator, Blood Diamond, and The Revenant.

There are two stages in choosing the winners of this award. First, the Academy’s 15 branches vote for whomever they feel as though they think deserves the award. Then a vote is tallied and they pick the top five as the “nominations.” Lastly, they vote out of those five and that decides the winner of the award.

Caleb Tollison, a senior in Advanced Production, was quoted saying in a text, “Hey. Sweet. Leo won an oscar, it’s about time.” While it may be a simple statement, it shows Leo’s huge fanbase and just how many people awaited this fabled – but expected – day.

This may not seem like a big deal to the average person, but an Academy Award, to many actors, is what really validates their titles of stardom and fame.