Moments that made Golden Globes 2025 the perfect start to the year

From jaw-dropping red carpet looks to highly-awaited wins, the year’s first award show was nothing short of perfect

This year’s Golden Globes celebrated 2024’s best in film and television. The award show’s most nominated title, “Emilia Pérez,” with 10 nominations, took home four awards, including Zoe Saldaña’s first Golden Globe win. “The Brutalist,” a period drama starring Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, and Guy Pearce, bagged three wins including the honors for best motion picture and best director.

In television, the hit historical drama “Shōgun” won all four awards it was nominated for, including Hiroyuki Sanada’s first Golden Globe win. Jeremy Allen White for “The Bear” and Colin Farrell for “The Penguin” took home the crown for their respective categories.

But, beyond the trophies, Golden Globes 2025 was also filled with moments that made the award show the perfect start to the year. Here are some of our favorites.

READ: Hollywood A-listers set to shine at Golden Globes

A season of firsts

The show awarded many esteemed talents with their first Golden Globes. And while we’re used to seeing various actors and actresses take the honors as if it were a regular Monday at work, these first-time winners definitely enjoyed the moment.

Sebastian Stan, famously known for his portrayal of Bucky Barnes in the MCU, took the award for best performance by an actor in a motion picture in A24’s “A Different Man.” During his acceptance speech, he said, “These are tough subject matters, but these films are real and necessary, and we can’t be afraid and look away.”  

Demi Moore also won her first Golden Globes for her performance in “The Substance.” At age 62, Moore revealed during her speech that it came to the point that she believed she would never be acknowledged as an actress. “Thirty years ago, I had a producer tell me that I was a popcorn actress. And at that time, I made that mean that this wasn’t something that I was allowed to have. That I could do movies that were successful, that made a lot of money, but that I couldn’t be acknowledged. And I bought it and I believe that.”

Zoe Saldaña, on the other hand, won her first Golden Globes for her performance as Rita Mora Castro in “Emilia Pérez.” Fellow nominees included Ariana Grande, Felicity Jones, and co-star Selina Gomez.

Joining Hiroyuki Sanada from “Shōgun” as Golden Globe first-timers were co-stars Tadanobu Asano and Anna Sawai.

Fernanda Torres made history as the first Brazilian to win the best actress: drama category at the Golden Globes. Her mother, Fernanda Montenegro was the first to be nominated for it 25 years ago. “I want to dedicate it to my mother. You have no idea she was here 25 years ago and this is proof that art can endure through life even in difficult moments,” said Torres in her speech.

Meanwhile, actors Adrien Brody, Jessica Gunning, and Richard Gadd, and director Brady Corbet, also took home their first Golden Globes.

READ: Golden Globes 2025 winners’ list: ‘The Brutalist,’ ‘Emilia Perez’ triumph

The perfect celebrity couple?

On the red carpet, couple Adam Brody and Leighton Meester were caught in a moment that could only be described as relationship goals. 

Lookalikes take over the red carpet

Lookalike contests were among 2024’s top trends with several competitions held in search of the best doppelgangers for celebrities such as Timothée Chalamet and Mark Lee of NCT. Golden Globes 2025 seems to be bringing this trend into the new year, having brought the lookalikes of Chalamet and Glen Powell onto the red carpet. Who’ll be the subject of the next big lookalike contest this year?

READ: Lookalike contests are the new internet craze yet they’re nothing new

Pamela Anderson goes bare

Any award show—outside the films and talents they celebrate—serves as an opportunity for various celebrities to dress up and show out. However, Pamela Anderson, best performance nominee for “The Last Showgirl” took a different approach and graced the red carpet bare-faced. The actress notably began going makeup-free in 2023 in an effort to embrace her natural beauty. 

She took an even greater step in Golden Globes 2025 by picking out her black Oscar de la Renta gown with matching opera gloves and Pandora choker without a glam team.

‘Hey Dwyane…’

“The Fast and the Furious” franchise, for everything that can be said about the direction it took, is no doubt one of Hollywood’s most lucrative money makers. Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson have been huge parts of its success but it’s no secret that the two once butted heads.

Johnson, who joined the franchise in 2011’s “Fast Five” as Luke Hobbs, has been public about his professional relationship with Diesel, and in an interview with Rolling Stone, claimed that they had stark differences in their approach to moviemaking. Johnson has since appeared in four more installments including a spin-off film with Jason Statham. Though he did not star in the franchise’s last two tiles—marking the end of a multi-year feud—Johnson is slated to make his return in the follow-up to “Fast X.”

The Falcon…I mean, Captain America and Bucky forever

Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes were undoubtedly once the best of friends in the MCU. But with The Falcon taking on the mantle of Captain America post-Endgame, it seems Anthony Mackie is also claiming the role of best friend both on and offscreen.