Jeffrey Wright Gets Emotional After Oscar Nom for ‘American Fiction’ (Exclusive)

“American Fiction” star Jeffrey Wright chatted with “Extra’s” Mona Kosar Abdi just hours after receiving a Best Actor Oscar nomination!

He said it was “gratifying” to see the Academy recognize him and his colleagues — the film also received a Best Picture nod and Best Supporting Actor recognition for Sterling K. Brown, among other nominations.

Jeffrey told Mona, “We had a sense while we were doing it that it was a story that was interesting, that was smart, that was timely, was entertaining, and it’s really gratifying that the Academy and our colleagues seem to agree.”

Wright also revealed how he got the news while “pacing” around his home in Brooklyn. His publicist was first to break the news, and the calls and texts kept coming.

He shared, “It just flooded in from colleagues and people that I know in the industry and family… Everyone’s pretty proud.”

Wright became emotional speaking about his late mother, sharing, “The first person that I acknowledged was my mom. There’s a picture of her just there, so she and I had a moment.”

He went on, “My mom passed a little over a year before I got the script for this, and when [my son] saw the film, he said, ‘You know, I see a lot of myself in that character you play, but it’s also a beautiful homage to Grandma,’ and I said to him, ‘Yeah, you got it.’”

Plus, he dished on his next projects, including another “Batman” coming down the pipeline.