Angelina Jolie Honors Her Late Mother Marcheline Bertrand in Moving Speech at Gotham Awards: 'Thinking of My Mom'

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The Oscar winner received this year's Performer Tribute from the Gotham Awards on Monday, Dec. 2

• Angelina Jolie honored her late mother, Marcheline Bertrand, as she accepted the the Gotham Awards' Performer Tribute in New York City on Monday, Dec. 2
• The actress's honor is for her performance as opera singer Maria Callas in the critically acclaimed Netflix biopic Maria, from director Pablo Larraín
• Bertrand died in 2007 at age 56 after a battle with ovarian cancer

Angelina Jolie spoke to her late mother's influence on her life and career as she received the Gotham Awards' Performer Tribute for playing Maria Callas in the critically acclaimed Maria.

On Monday, Dec. 2, at New York City's Cipriani Wall Street, the 49-year-old Oscar winner took to the stage in a sleeveless black dress to accept the honor and remarked on the unique timing of the annual awards ceremony.

"It's wonderful to be here in New York where Maria Callas was born and lived most of her life on what would have been her 101st birthday," Jolie said of the legendary opera performer, whom she portrays in director Pablo Larraín's Netflix biopic. "I'm very honored to be here with fellow artists, celebrating independent filmmaking."

After thanking Larraín, 48, for his "vision and sensibility," she told a story of how the filmmaker "grew up going to the opera with his mother."

"I grew up with a mother who kept books inside the oven because there were more books in our house than shelves in the apartment we had," she continued of her mom Marcheline Bertrand, who died in 2007 at age 56 after a battle with ovarian cancer.

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Related: Angelina Jolie Was 'Terrified Again as an Artist' While Making Maria: 'I Had a Safe Place to Fail'

"And it was how she solved the problem, while still making sure we were fed," the actress added. "But it was her priority. She took me to theater. She told me about meeting Tennessee Williams and she introduced me to the Lee Strasberg Institute, where I would later study."

"And I experience now the joy of seeing my own daughter love theater and get involved," Jolie said, referencing 16-year-old Vivienne, who helped her mother produce the Tony-winning musicalThe Outsiders. "For many of us, these early influences are what nurture us and shape us as artists and people, and it is so important. Art is a way we come together to know each other, to laugh with each other and to understand each other. And it's why it's so important that art is taught in our schools, and so concerning that many of those programs are being reduced."

The actress continued, "As we know, as Maria knew, art isn't easy. It requires skill and training and discipline and preparation, and it can be lonely at times. And part of what drew me to Maria was how hard she worked to master her craft. She called it 'straitjacketing' herself ... she gave the world and left the world so much. She would tell her students to keep going, not with fireworks, not with an easy applause, but with the expression of words and your true feeling, whatever it is."

"So in Maria's memory, thinking of my mom ... for all those who teach and inspire art in others, all the young artists growing up and everyone in this room who celebrates creativity and expression, I am really, really honored to be here with all of you and to be a part of this community," Jolie added.

Related: Moonlight Director Compares Angelina Jolie's Maria Performance to Denzel Washington as Malcolm X: 'So Striking'

Maria is an intimate portrait of Callas, the pioneering American-born Greek opera star, in 1970s Paris. In addition to her Gotham honor, Jolie's performance has picked up distinctions at the upcoming Palm Springs International Film Festival and the Astra Film Awards.

"Like the legendary figure she portrays, Angelina Jolie transcends mere performance to craft something extraordinary," The Gotham Film & Media Institute executive director Jeffrey Sharp said in a statement recognizing her "career-defining" work in Maria in October. "Her interpretation captures both Maria Callas' complexity as an artist and the cultural resonance that defines an icon."

An Oscar winner for 1999'sGirl, Interrupted, Jolie was last nominated by the Academy for 2008's Changeling. Before Maria, her last big-screen credit was in Marvel's Eternals (2021).

The Gotham Awards celebrate "independent film and media creators, providing career-building resources, access to industry influencers, and pathways to wider recognition," according to its statement announcing this year's nominees.

Following its Venice International Film Festival premiere, Maria is in theaters now and will debut on Netflix Dec. 11.