'Inclusion Rider': With Best Actress Win, Frances McDormand Calls For Diversity Advocates

Frances McDormand capped an awards season of accolades with the biggest one of all: an Oscar for Best Actress.

After sweeping trophies at the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild, Independent Spirit and BAFTA ceremonies, McDormand won for "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri." She played Mildred Hayes, a hardened woman seeking justice for her daughter's murder.

After offering thanks on Sunday night, McDormand turned serious and said, "Now I want to get some perspective." She asked all the other female nominees in every category to stand up in the audience.

"Meryl, if you do it, everyone else will," she said to best-actress nominee Meryl Streep, who sat in the front row of the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

"Look around everybody, because we all have stories to tell and projects that need to be financed," McDormand said, urging the decision-makers not to talk about proposals at the post-show parties but to meet in the office.

"I have two words for you: inclusion rider," McDormand said as she walked off stage, referring to how A-listers could use their influence contractually require hiring diverse cast and crew members.

McDormand rarely does anything A-list actresses are known to do: wear designer gowns, walk red carpets or politic during awards season and yet she collected all the biggest trophies this season.

At the Spirit awards on Oscar eve, McDormand said it had been hard not to swear the last couple months because "this awards convention goes on (expletive) forever."

McDormand beat out Sally Hawkins of "The Shape of Water," Margot Robbie of "I, Tonya," Saoirse Ronan of "Lady Bird," and 21-time nominee Streep of "The Post."

It was the second Oscar win for McDormand. Her first came in 1997 for "Fargo," directed by her husband Joel Coen and his brother Ethan.

With additional reporting by WBUR's Amy Gorel