Oscar-winning screenwriter tells kids - 'Stay different'

His name will not immediately ring a bell.

But it is his acceptance speech at the recent Academy Awards that everyone is talking about now.

Screenwriter Graham Moore, who clinched the award for the Best Adapted Screenplay for The Imitation Game starring Benedict Cumberbatch, opened up on stage about attempting suicide when he was a confused teenager.

Watch his acceptance speech here and the standing ovation he received after.

After receiving his first ever Oscar from Oprah Winfrey, Moore, 33, said: “In this brief time here, what I want to use it to do is to say this: When I was 16 years old, I tried to kill myself because I felt weird and I felt different and I felt like I did not belong.

“And now, I’m standing here and I would like for this moment to be for that kid out there who feels like she’s weird or she’s different or she doesn’t fit in anywhere.

"Yes, you do. I promise you do. You do. Stay weird, stay different. And then, when it’s your turn and you are standing on this stage, please pass the same message to the next person who comes along.”

He later told BuzzFeed News that he had thought about his speech but hadn't penned down every word. 

“I am incredibly superstitious, so I had it loosely in my head,” he said. “It’s the kind of thing that I’ve imagined since I was a teenager. It was weird to get on the stage and say the things that I’ve been imagining in the shower and in front of mirrors. I think everyone practises their Oscars acceptance speech with a shampoo bottle and I’ve done my fair share of them. It’s really surreal to be able to do it in real life.”

Source: BuzzFeed