This Oscar belongs to all of those people around the world suffering with ALS. It belongs to one exceptional family -- Stephen, Jane and the Hawking children. I will be his custodian. I will be at his beck and call,” – Eddie Redmayne upon accepting the 2015 Oscar for Best Actor

The ALS Therapy Development Institute (als.net) congratulates Eddie Redmayne on receiving the 2015 Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Professor Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. Redmayne’s acting in the film had been recognized earlier by several other awards including a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama and Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role.

The Theory of Everything is a film adaptation of the book, Traveling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen, by Hawking’s first wife, Jane Wilde Hawking. Upon its release in the fall of 2014, the film raised significant awareness of ALS through the recount of his first marriage, subsequent divorce, and relationship thereafter. Although being diagnosed with ALS in 1963 at the age of 21, Hawking went on to become one of the world’s most recognizable scientists as well as PALS (person diagnosed with ALS).

“There are as many as half a million people living with ALS worldwide today, and Hawking has been an inspiration to many. This film helps tell the truth that being told you have ALS doesn’t mean that you need to be defined by that diagnosis and forgo your passions. We congratulate the entire Theory of Everything team and thank Eddie for accepting the Oscar on behalf of the global ALS community,” said Steve Perrin, Ph.D., CEO and CSO of the ALS Therapy Development Institute.

There have been a many film and documentaries made about ALS and people diagnosed with the disease, including the Sundance Award Winning documentary, So Much So Fast, which tells the story of Stephen Heywood, who was the founding inspiration for the ALS Therapy Development Institute in 1999. The series, Often Awesome, is a 36 webisode which following Timothy LaFollettee from diagnosis through his two year battle with ALS. Earlier in 2014, a film starring Hilary Swank, You’re Not You, was released digitally worldwide about a young woman who becomes a care provider to a person diagnosed with ALS.