Recap: CBS News interviews with 2015 Oscar-winners
First-timers ruled last night's Academy Awards ceremony, with three of the Oscar-winners in acting categories winning on their first nominations, and a Hollywood veteran -- with her fifth nomination -- taking home her first statuette.
Click on the video players below to watching interviews they shared with CBS News during this past awards season.
Best Actress: Julianne Moore, "Still Alice"
Julianne Moore received her fifth Academy Award nomination, and her first win, for her portrayal of a university professor fighting early-onset Alzheimer's.
"This is somebody who's primarily defined by her intellect, so she's kind of questioning who she is," Moore told CBS News' Charlie Rose. "How does she cope? How does she present herself? How does she fight the decline? How does she preserve her relationships?"
Moore's previous nominations were for "Boogie Nights," "The End of the Affair," "Far From Heaven" and "The Hours." Her other films include "Short Cuts," "The Big Lebowski," "Children of Men," "The Kids Are All Right," "Maps to the Stars," and "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part I."
"I think my career has always been incremental," said Moore. "I didn't get my first role in movies until I was 29 years old, so there was never any big surge ... I would say I'm like a mouse chewing through a wall!"
Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne, "The Theory of Everything"
British actor Eddie Redmayne, whose credits include "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," "The Other Boleyn Girl," "My Week With Marilyn" and "Les Miserables," went through a massive transformation in "The Theory of Everything."
The 33-year-old plays world-famous physicist Stephen Hawking in the film, which follows him as a healthy young man into his life in a wheelchair because of the debilitating disease, ALS.
The first-time nominee told CBS News' Gayle King he watched old videos to mimic Hawking's movements.
"I had so much documentary information, videos on an iPad of him, and I'd spent so long in front of a mirror, trying to replicate his facial muscles and really trying to get a sense of who he was. So it was less lines and it was more just learning to act, because as Stephen's muscles stopped working on his face, he uses any muscles that are left, muscles we wouldn't normally use, all these sorts of muscles...for his expression."
Early in the film Hawking receives a shocking diagnosis: Doctors tells him his life expectancy is two years.
"His capacity to decide that every day after that two-year period was a gift for him, and the way in which he has lived his life so fully, squeezed everything out of every minute is, for me, a great inspiration to us now," Redmayne said.
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, "Boyhood"
In its portrayal of a struggling single mom, played by Patricia Arquette, "Boyhood" is as much about her growth as it is about the kids'.
Arquette bonded with her young co-stars through her director's collaborative way of working: "He introduced me to the kids. He moved out of his house. I had the kids alone all weekend. I tucked them in bed. I read them stories, made them breakfast," she told "Sunday Morning."
The movie was shot in spurts over a span of 12 years.
"It was such a long commitment -- at some point, did you go, 'Oh, my God, if this thing craters, I will have spent nine, 10 years of my life on this'?" asked CBS News' Mo Rocca.
"I think it was, like, six or seven years [in], we were like, 'Yeah, this would really suck if this just falls apart!'" she laughed.
This was Arquette's first Academy Award nomination -- and her first Oscar. For "Boyhood" she had already won Best Supporting Actress from the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA, Independent Spirit Awards and New York Film Critics Circle (and Best Actress from the L.A. Film Critics Association for the same performance).
Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons, "Whiplash"
Starring in "Whiplash" as an explosive and brutally demanding music teacher, J.K. Simmons finds himself in an unusual position: the center of attention. He has swept acting honors for his performance in the Sundance Film Festival favorite, and has now won his first Oscar.
Quite a change of pace for the 30-year veteran of films, TV, and insurance commercials. The memorable character actor has often caught our eye with his performances in such films as "Juno," and in the series "Law & Order" and "Oz," even if we didn't catch his name.
And what does the term "character actor" mean to him? asked CBS News' John Blackstone.
"I think it just means you're not that good-looking -- you're not Clooney or Pitt," Simmons laughed.
"I think it gives you credit for having some versatility and some range, and are able to play a variety of characters."
It's been a busy and hectic time, he said, referring to the recent awards season: "But it's also led to great opportunities for the future, too. Doors that were kind of ajar have been kicked open. So the attention that all the awards stuff has brought for me has been great."