My wife’s dad is one of Celtic’s greatest ever managers but I’ve got a totally different career and even won an Oscar
HE watched his father-in-law lift trophy after trophy during his long and successful career as a football manager.
He even took home the most prestigious award in the European game during his playing days too.
So it's only natural that when James Friend had the opportunity to compete with his wife's dad in the trophy cabinet, he went out and won the biggest accolade available to him in his own field.
Married to Alana O'Neill - daughter of Celtic icon Martin - Friend won his first ever Oscar this year for best cinematography for his work on the 2022 World War I biopic 'All Quiet on the Western Front'.
The German film was a massive hit and scooped up four Academy Awards and seven BAFTAs, with Friend coming out on top in both annual shows in his department.
The four awards at the Oscars has the movie tied with Fanny and Alexander (1982), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and Parasite (2019) as the most-awarded foreign language film in the history of the star-studded event.
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The epic anti-war film put Friend on the map and he attended the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood in March to receive his award, alongside his wife.
And he could be seen posing with Creed III actors Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors at the event after the pair handed him his award on the night.
Giving his heartfelt speech to the crowd, Friend said: "It's not my birthday, but I feel like it is. I mean, what an honor."
He paid special thanks to his wife and family for all the support they gave him along the journey.
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He continued: "Academy, thank you so much, thank you for everything. And my fellow nominees, your work is just outstanding and inspires me.
"My darling mum and dad, who, when I was, said I want to run off to the circus, join the circus of the film industry, they believed in me, and thank you.
"And my beautiful wife, encouraging, just... My brother and my sister who just, yeah, pushed me and pushed me and pushed me. And Edward Berger, just thank you so much."
Former Celtic manager O'Neill revealed his pride when Friend was initially nominated for the prestigious award.
He posted on social media at the time: "What a wonderful day!!!
"Huge congratulations to my son-in-law James Friend for his cinematography #Oscar nomination for his superb work on #AllQuietOnTheWesternFront #Netflix.
"Brilliant film and brilliant filmmaking team, well done everyone involved."
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