Chicago writer Graham Moore cheered for ‘stay weird’ Oscar speech

Chicago native Graham Moore, winner of the best adapted screenplay Oscar for writing “The Imitation Game,” drew a huge ovation for his uplifting acceptance speech Sunday night.

The writer lamented that Alan Turing, the gay World War II codebreaker at the movie’s center, never got to enjoy a moment of glory like his, “and that’s the most unfair thing I think I’ve ever heard.”

Moore went on to make a confession: He had tried to kill himself at age 16.

“I felt weird and I felt different and I felt like I didn’t belong,” said Moore, a graduate of University of Chicago Lab School in Hyde Park. “And now I’m standing here, so I would like this moment to be for that kid out there who feels like she’s weird or she’s different or she doesn’t fit in anywhere. Yes, you do. I promise you do. Stay weird. Stay different.”

Moore’s mother, Susan Sher, is first lady Michelle Obama’s former chief of staff and currently heads the site-selection process for President Obama’s future presidential library.

“I was a tremendous computer nerd,” Moore tells Bill Zwecker