Damien Chazelle became the youngest ever winner of a best directing Oscar on Sunday (February 26) after picking up the prize for his third feature film, musical "La La Land." <br /> <br />It was the first Academy Award for Chazelle, 32, who was the favorite going into Sunday's ceremony after winning Directors Guild and Golden Globe awards earlier this year. <br /> <br />"La La Land," a contemporary original musical, is set in Los Angeles and stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as an aspiring actress and a tortured jazz musician who fall in love. <br /> <br />Chazelle thanked his girlfriend, actress Olivia Hamilton, while accepting his statuette. <br /> <br />"This was a movie about love and I was lucky enough to fall in love while making it," he said. <br /> <br />It took six years for Chazelle to find a studio willing to finance and take a gamble on "La La Land," which was conceived as a modern take on 1940s and 1950s Hollywood musicals. He also wrote the screenplay. <br /> <br />In 2015, Chazelle was nominated for a best adapted screenplay Oscar for his breakout film "Whiplash," about a young jazz drummer. That success helped catapult "La La Land" into production. <br /> <br />Chazelle started out as a jazz drummer at high school but later studied film at Harvard University. <br /> <br />He took the Oscar on Sunday over a field that included Denis Villeneuve for "Arrival," Mel Gibson for "Hacksaw Ridge," Kenneth Lonergan for "Manchester by the Sea," and Barry Jenkins for "Moonlight." <br /> <br />"La La Land" also won the best cinematography Oscar for Swedish Cinematographer Linus Sandgren. <br /> <br />"This is such an amazing honor. This film was made with so much love and passion and struggles. And it was all thanks to you, Damien. You're a poetic genius. And I'm so happy I met you and I really love you, man," said Sandgren as he accepted his first Oscar.
