Cher won the 1987 Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Moonstruck.
Directed by Norman Jewison and written by John Patrick Shanley, Moonstruck stars Cher as Loretta Castorini, a widowed Italian American woman in Brooklyn who falls in love with her fiancé's passionate younger brother, played by Nicolas Cage. Cher's performance combined comedy, romance, and family drama.
The award was presented at the 60th Academy Awards in 1988, honoring films released in 1987. Moonstruck received six nominations and won three Oscars: Best Actress for Cher, Best Supporting Actress for Olympia Dukakis, and Best Original Screenplay for Shanley.
A frequent confusion is the wording “in 1987.” The film was released in 1987, but the ceremony took place on April 11, 1988. Cher's win was also notable because she was primarily known as a singer and performer before becoming an Oscar-winning film actress.