By far the best thing that happened at the Academy Awards last night was that someone from Hollyoaks won an actual Oscar – and we could not be happier for her.
Rachel Shelton, who played Mitzeee Minniver in the Channel 4 soap, won the award for Best Short Film for ‘The Silent Child’ alongside her fiancé Chris Overton.
The film tells the story of deaf four-year-old Libby, who is taught sign language by her social worker as she cannot speak.
Rachel learnt sign lamguage at age of 12 after her dad lost his hearing through chemotherapy, and signed her acceptance speech.
She said: "I made a promise to our six year old lead actress that I would sign this speech but my hands are shaking a little bit, so I apologise."
"Our movie is about a deaf child being born into a world of silence. It's not exaggerated or sensationalised for the movies this is happening.
"Millions of children all over the world live in silence and face communication barriers - and particularly access to education."
"So deafness is a silent disability, you can't see it and it's not life threatening, so I want to say the biggest of thank yous for the Academy for allowing us to put this in front of a mainstream audience.”
She later spoke to Good Morning Britain about her win, saying: “It’s a really surreal moment as we actually felt really calm beforehand and were really happy with everything we’ve achieved. But two categories before ours, you start thinking, ‘Oh God this is really happening, this is awful.’
GALLERY: all the winners from the 2018 Oscars
Oscar winners 2018 - Grazia
1 of 9Best Supporting Actor: Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell's portrayal of a racist cop in *Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri *has proved controversial, but that didn't stop him walking away with the Best Supporting Actor statuette, his first Oscar.
2 of 9Costume Design: Mark Bridges, Phantom Thread
Given that *Phantom Thread *delves into the world of '50s couture, with Daniel Day Lewis playing a highly-strung design virtuoso, the costumes by regular Paul Thomas Anderson collaborator Mark Bridges were always going to be a shoe-in (no pun intended) for the Costume Oscar.
3 of 9Best Supporting Actress: Allison Janney
Allison Janney's first Oscar (for her role as LaVona Harding in I, Tonya) couldn't be more well-deserved. She beat competition from Lady Bird's Laurie Metcalf, The Shape of Water's Octavia Spencer, Phantom Thread's Lesley Manville and Mudbound's Mary J. Blige.
4 of 9Best Adapted Screenplay: James Ivory, Call Me By Your Name
Veteran writer-director James Ivory is now the oldest person to win an Oscar in Academy Award history, and gave an emotive speech after picking up the Best Adapted Screenplay trophy for Call Me By Your Name.
5 of 9Best Original Screenplay: Jordan Peele, Get Out
Writer-director Jordan Peele picked up a well-deserved first Oscar for his socially conscious horror *Get Out. *
6 of 9Best Director: Guillermo del Toro, The Shape Of Water
In his acceptance speech, Del Toro alluded to his experiences as an immigrant and stressed the importance of integration and acceptance, telling the audience that 'The best thing our industry does is to help erase the lines in the sand when the world tries to make them deeper.'
7 of 9Best Actor: Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
Gary Oldman took his first Oscar for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, which required an extensive transformation involving hours of prosthetics.
8 of 9Best Actress: Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Accepting her second Oscar (her first was for Fargo back in 1997), the brilliant Frances McDormand asked every female actress, filmmaker and artist in the room to stand before delivering a rallying cry for gender equality.
9 of 9Best Picture: The Shape Of Water
Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway got a second shot at presenting after last year's debacle, presenting the Best Picture award to the cast and crew of The Shape of Water.
“And as the names are called out we heard The Silent Child and we thought, ‘Oh God that’s us, it’s not nominations, it’s not a list, it’s us, who won’, it’s so surreal.”
Director and fiancé Chris praised her during the interview, gushing: “It’s mind-blowing, but what a woman, I’m such a lucky man, I really am!”
Congrats, Rachel