Cillian Murphy’s Former School Celebrates Oscars Win

One of the most adorable celebrations of an Oscar winner has to be that from the former school of actor Cillian Murphy.

The Irish star picked up the Academy Award for Best Actor for his work in Oppenheimer at Sunday’s Los Angeles ceremony. During his speech, he called out his native Ireland, saying he was a “very proud Irishman standing here tonight,” and even ending his speech by saying in Irish Gaelic, “Go raibh míle maith agaibh (thank you very much).” Newsweek contacted Murphy’s representatives by email for comment.

Oppenheimer told the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer who helped create the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, eventually bringing about the end of World War II.

“We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb and, for better or for worse, we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world,” Murphy said onstage at the Dolby Theatre. “So, I’d really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere.”

It seems he was not the only proud Irishman, with teachers and students at Murphy’s former elementary school celebrating his win.

The staff at St Anthony’s Boys National School in Cork decorated the school with colorful balloons, many of which had his name “Cillian” printed on them.

“The excitement of the boys coming through the door this morning. There were boys and juniors and seniors coming up to me and saying, ‘Mr Lyons, did you hear the news?'” the school’s principal, Seán Lyons, told Irish public broadcaster RTE.

One student told the news station: “Well done on winning the Oscar.”

Another pointed out an interesting fact about his win to the news team, telling them, “he was the first person from Cork to win it [an Oscar].” The little lad seemed to be correct based on information from the newspaper Irish Mirror. Murphy was also the first person from Ireland to win the Best Actor award.

The students also celebrated by waving Irish flags and holding up replica Oscar statues while smiling towards the camera.

“He definitely deserved it. He’s a really good actor, and I’m delighted he won the Oscar,” one student said.

One user of X, formerly Twitter, shared the TV news story to their account where it went viral with more than 3.2 million views.

“im sobbing at these kids celebrating cillian’s oscar win bless their little hearts,” @endofdaynight captioned the post.

Oppenheimer was one of the big winners at this year’s Academy Awards. Along with the Best Actor victory, Christopher Nolan also won for Director and Robert Downey Jr for Best Supporting Actor. Oppenheimer also won Best Film and picked up awards in the cinematography, editing and music score categories.