Even though "Killers of the Flower Moon" star Lily Gladstone didn't win an Oscar on Sunday night, she's still a champion to her friends and fans.
Gladstone, who played Mollie Burkhart in the film, still made history by becoming the first Native American person to receive a best actress Oscar nomination.
Though Gladstone grew up on the reservation of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana, she attended high school in the Seattle area. Sunday evening, her friends and other alumni gathered in the same auditorium Gladstone once graced as a teen to watch the Academy Awards together.
Rooting for the "Killers of the Flower Moon" star felt "electric," her former classmate Josh Ryder tells TODAY.com.
Ryder and Gladstone both graduated from Mountlake Terrace High School in 2004 and were voted "most likely to win an Oscar."
Ryder says that even in high school, Gladstone had "a reputation for putting out really good work, really doing justice to characters that she would play."
"The theater community there was really tight-knit and really inclusive," he reminisces. "But fun and playful and she (Gladstone) was definitely a part of that."
More than 100 people showed up to watch the awards ceremony together on March 10, Ryder says, and they were "shocked" when Gladstone lost best actress to "Poor Things" star Emma Stone.
"We are obviously very biased," he laughs. "But I think we thought she had it in the bag!"
He said that despite the setback, everyone at the watch party was still "super proud" of Gladstone and the work she has accomplished.
"Obviously things didn’t go the way that we were hoping," he says. "But we’re not letting that diminish what Lily has accomplished on and off the screen. It's still just been beyond our wildest dreams."
He said that following the awards ceremony, Gladstone sent the watch party a video message, thanking them for their support.
"She was very generous in her precious time to say thank you to the group, to the alumni and students," he said. "(The video) was a little somber but I think we still are very resolved in terms of our support."
Ryder added that it was beautiful to see the "gravitational force" of Gladstone bringing people back together, some 20 years after graduation.
"This is a group of people (where) we have each other’s back," he says. "It’s just cool… It was awesome to celebrate someone else’s success."
Meanwhile, in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, the Osage Nation also held a watch party in honor of the film and Gladstone. "The Killers of the Flower Moon" tells the dark story of Oklahoma's Reign of Terror, a bloody time when more than dozens of members of the Osage tribe met violent or suspicious ends following the discovery of oil on their Oklahoma land.
Gathering at Osage Casino Hotel, fans and cast members of the film told local NBC affiliate KJRH that even though Gladstone didn't win best actress and the movie didn't take home best picture, it was still a historic moment.
“I get goosebumps. I get so excited,” Rodonna Shay Nicholas, who played an Osage citizen in the movie, told the station. “Yes, history is being made.”
Fellow cast member Brave Desiree Storm, who played Bertha Bigheart, told KJRH she believes the film was a "special" way to "put our feelings and ourselves out there."
“It’s good that we celebrate it and take pride in the work that we’ve done,” Storm said. “And we’ve always been resilient and that’s important for people to see.”
John Parker, the master of ceremonies for the event who also appeared in the film and did makeup for it, noted that even though "Killers of the Flower Moon" didn't take home any golden statuettes, “We’ve made it this far, and we didn’t come this far to only come this far.”
