As Tambay posted last night, after winning the Lumière award (French equivalent of the Golden Globes) for Best Actor, Omar Sy picked up France's highest acting honor in that same category, the César Award for Best Actor (the French equivalent of the Academy Award).

The awards ceremony took place in Paris last night and since they were first given out in 1975, Omar Cy's win is one for the history books because he's the first black man to not only be nominated for the Best Actor Cesar, he's also the first black man to win the Cesar award for Best Actor, as confirmed by our readers in France.

As Tambay noted yesterday, this is akin to Sidney Poitier winning the Best Actor award for Lilies Of The Field in 1963. So this should be a pretty big deal! It took France long enough.

The film he stars in, INTOUCHABLES, also received nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography and more; Sy's co-star, François Cluzet, who wasn't nominated for a Lumière, received a nod this time around in the same category.

But the film only walked away with that single award win out of 9 total nominations.

Living here in New York, I too am looking forward to seeing the film when it makes its USA debut at the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema here in NYC, next month.

Watch video for Omar Sy's heartfelt and enthusiastic acceptance speech during last night's ceremony below. It's all in French w/o subtitles but I can tell you that he thanks his wife, the directors of the film, the distributor, and other people. Watch for his Cuba Gooding Jr-like Oscar acceptance speech moves at the end: