Angelina Jolie enjoys chat with LA firefighters at Critics Choice Awards after missing out on Maria trophy

Angelina Jolie showed her appreciation for members of the Los Angeles Fire Department during the 2025 Critics Choice Awards on Friday.

The Oscar-winning actress, 49, was seen interacting with several firefighters during a lull in the star-studded ceremony hosted by comedian Chelsea Handler.

Angelina offered the brave men a warm smile as she got up from her seat to speak with them just weeks after the devastating LA wildfires took over the city.

Fueled by historic winds, the unprecedented fires burned over 40,000 acres, destroyed 12,000 structures and claimed the lives of 29 people.

After a nearly month-long battle, Cal Fire confirmed last week that both the Eaton fire and Palisades fire are fully contained.

Angelina — who lives in a $25million mansion in Los Feliz with her six children — appeared to express her gratitude to the firefighters during their mid-show convo.

Angelina Jolie showed her appreciation for members of the Los Angeles Fire Department during the Critics Choice Awards on Friday

The Oscar-winning actress, 49, was seen interacting with several firefighters during a lull in the star-studded ceremony hosted by comedian Chelsea Handler

Angelina was among the night’s big nominees for her performance in the 2024 biopic Maria.

She was nominated for Best Actress for her critically acclaimed portrayal of late opera singer Maria Callas.

Despite pouring herself into the role by learning how to sing opera, Angelina lost out on the trophy to The Substance’s Demi Moore.

Moore also beat out Wicked’s Cynthia Erivo, Anora’s Mickey Madison, Emilia Perez’s Karla Sofía Gascón and Hard Truths’ Marianne Jean-Baptiste.

The Critics Choice Awards both shook up and solidified the awards season race ahead of the Academy Awards.

Anora was the upset winner of Best Picture, despite failing to win any of the other six awards it was nominated for, while Moore and Adrien Brody emerged triumphant in the lead acting categories at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California.

The Sean Baker–directed verité-style comedy stars Mikey Madison as an adult dancer who impetuously marries the son of a Russian oligarch, only to have his handlers go to shocking ends to annul the marriage.

In his emotional acceptance speech, Baker noted that the film only cost $6 million — a shockingly small amount for a major film.

Angelina offered the brave men a warm smile as she got up from her seat to speak with them just weeks after the devastating LA wildfires broke out

Fueled by historic winds, the fires in Los Angeles burned over 40,000 acres, destroyed 12,000 structures and claimed the lives of 29 people; the Palisades Fire pictured on January 11

Critics Choice Awards 2025 winners: AT A GLANCE

MOVIES

BEST PICTURE: Anora

BEST ACTOR: Adrien Brody — The Brutalist

BEST ACTRESS: Demi Moore — The Substance

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Kieran Culkin — A Real Pain

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Zoe Saldaña — Emilia Pérez

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS: Maisy Stella — My Old Ass

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE: Conclave — WINNER

BEST DIRECTOR: Jon M. Chu — Wicked  

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Coralie Fargeat — The Substance  

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Peter Straughan — Conclave

 BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Jarin Blaschke — Nosferatu

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Nathan Crowley, Lee Sandales — Wicked  

BEST EDITING: Marco Costa — Challengers  

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Paul Tazewell — Wicked

BEST HAIR AND MAKEUP: The Substance  

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe, Gerd Nefzer — Dune: Part Two  

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: The Wild Robot  

BEST COMEDY: A Real Pain and Deadpool & Wolverine (TIE)  

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Emilia Pérez  

BEST SONG: “El Mal” – Emilia Pérez — Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Camille  

BEST SCORE: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross — Challengers

 TELEVISION

BEST DRAMA SERIES: Shōgun

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES: Hiroyuki Sanada — Shōgun

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES: Kathy Bates — Matlock

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES: Tadanobu Asano — Shōgun  

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES: Moeka Hoshi — Shōgun  

BEST COMEDY SERIES: Hacks  

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES: Adam Brody — Nobody Wants This  

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES: Jean Smart — Hacks  

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES: Michael Urie — Shrinking  

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES: Hannah Einbinder – Hacks  

BEST LIMITED SERIES: Baby Reindeer

BEST MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION: Rebel Ridge

BEST ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION: Colin Farrell — The Penguin  

BEST ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION: Cristin Milioti — The Penguin  

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION: Liev Schreiber — The Perfect Couple  

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION: Jessica Gunning – Baby Reindeer  

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE SERIES: Squid Game  

BEST ANIMATED SERIES: X-Men ’97  

BEST TALK SHOW: John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s in L.A.  

BEST COMEDY SPECIAL: Ali Wong: Single Lady

 

Demi, 62, brought down the house when her name was announced for Best Actress.

She stars in the satirical body-horror film The Substance, about an aging actress who resorts to an untested therapy to allow her to temporarily inhabit the body of a younger woman (Margaret Qualley).

But both are affected by stomach-churning physical side effects when they overstay their welcomes in the younger body.

Adrien praised critics for making his ‘very small, epic film very visible and accessible to people’ after winning Best Actor for The Brutalist, which cemented his status as the Oscar frontrunner in the category.

In the Brady Corbet–directed historical epic, he plays a Jewish architect and Holocaust survivor who butts heads with a wealthy benefactor (Guy Pearce) after emigrating to the US.

The ceremony, which was hosted by Chelsea Handler, finally took place at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, after it was first slated to take place on Sunday, January 12, before being pushed to Sunday, January 26.

But due to the venue’s close proximity to the fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades, ceremony officials decided to push the show to February.

Zoe Saldaña was a surprise Best Supporting Actress winner for Emilia Pérez. The film was swept up in controversy after tweets containing racist and Islamophobic sentiments from its star Karla Sofía Gascón — some of them fairly recent — were discovered.

Angelina was among the night’s big nominees for her performance in the 2024 biopic Maria, which premieres on Netflix in December

She was nominated for Best Actress for her critically acclaimed portrayal of late opera singer Maria Callas

Despite pouring herself into the role by learning how to sing opera, Angelina lost out on the trophy to The Substance’s Demi Moore; Jolie seen hugging Moore after her win

However, the Critics Choice Award ballots were turned in before the controversy came into the public eye, whereas voting for the Oscars isn’t yet over.

The controversial Netflix film also won for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Song.

Notably, Gascón was among those credited for the Best Song win, but she did not attend after Netflix stopped paying for Gascón’s travel and accommodations for the awards season due to her tweets and subsequent half-hearted apologies that didn’t improve the film’s outlook.

Keiran Culkin also won for Best Supporting Actor, while Jon M. Chu won for directing Wicked, setting him up as the Oscars frontrunner, despite positive reviews that sometimes dismissed his contributions.

The Oscar hopes of Ralph Fiennes and Conclave were kept alive, as the film won the acting ensemble award — with Fiennes accepting — and the Best Adapted Screenplay prize.

Among the TV winners, Shōgun emerged triumphant with wins for Best Drama Series, Best Actor (Hiroyuki Sanada) and both supporting categories (for Tadanobu Asano and Moeka Hoshi).

Hacks was the top comedy, win in the Best Comedy Series category and nabbing honors for Best Actress (Jean Smart) and Best Supporting Actress (Hannah Einbinder).

The Limited Series categories were split between Baby Reindeer, which won Best Limited Series and Best Supporting Actress for Jessica Gunning, and The Penguin, which won Best Actor and Actress for stars Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti.