Kimi Faxon Hemingway is an English professor at UNCW, and her brother, Nat Faxon, had a huge night Sunday, Feb. 26.

Faxon, along with Alexander Payne and Jim Rash, won Oscars for best adapted screenplay at the 84^th Annual Academy Awards for “The Descendants.”

Hemingway, who watched the Academy Awards with a few friends at home, described the experience of watching her brother win as “staggering, amazing.” Her parents attended the event, but she went to the Golden Globes when Faxon received a nomination for best motion picture screenplay for “The Descendants.”

Hemingway said that when Angelina Jolie, who presented the Oscar for best adapted screenplay, started reading off the names of the nominees, she got extremely nervous and everything went mute. Even when Hemingway saw Jolie mouth her brother’s name, she did not jump up and scream until she saw him stand up and start walking toward the stage.

Faxon had a motto that he kept repeating throughout the weeks leading up to the big day: “It’s okay if we don’t win. It’s okay if we don’t win.” Then after they did win, he said, “Oh, thank God.”

Hemingway described her brother as humble but a born star. He started his career in the film industry as an actor performing at The Groundlings, the improvisational comedy club in Los Angeles where many known stars have started out. He met his agent through the club and began getting acting parts, but his writing career started when he began to be typecast in certain roles and wanted to write his own films so he could star in them as different types of characters.

Payne asked Faxon to adapt Kaui Hart Hemmings’ novel, “The Descendants,” for the screen, and he jumped at the chance to expand his writing and gain more experience. His interest in writing, along with acting, has launched his career in this competitive industry.

“Everyone is over the moon, especially him,” Hemingway said. As she talks about her brother, anyone can see how proud she is of him and everything he has accomplished. She congratulated him right after she watched him win the Oscar, and he replied, “I feel like I should buy a lottery ticket. This is all insane.”

Faxon has no intention of slowing down with his work now that he has won an Oscar. He has gotten a lot of recognition for his writing, but his heart is in acting, and he continues to expand himself in that area as well. He has been in many movies, television shows, and commercials, but he is most known for his roles in films such as “Beerfest,” “Orange County” and “Bad Teacher.”

Faxon just landed the lead role in a new Fox pilot that is set to begin filming soon, a comedy titled “Ned Fox is My Manny.”

He also recently sold an idea for a script to the production company Indian Paintbrush. He paired up with Kristen Wiig to come with the idea for this action-comedy piece, and she will be starring in the new film.

In regard to all of Faxon’s past and recent success, Hemingway says, “He works hard, makes smart decisions, and has been in the right place at the right time.” She joked saying that she is the writer in the family, but they have both gained success with writing in their respective fields.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118050850.html?cmpid=RSS%7CNews%7CLatestNews