Nicolet's Justin Hurwitz wins 2 Oscars for 'La La Land'

Justin Hurwitz, the Nicolet High School grad who took piano lessons at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, won Oscars Sunday night for best original score and best song for "La La Land."

Hurwitz shared the best song Oscar for "City of Stars" with Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who wrote the lyrics.

Pasek and Paul also shared a best song nomination with Hurwitz for "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)."

"Thank you to all the L.A. musicians who played on this score," Hurwitz said in accepting the award for best original score. "I just put notes on a page, and they’re the ones who played it and made it sound beautiful the way it was."

Hurwitz also got a shout-out from "La La Land" director Damien Chazelle during the latter's acceptance speech for the best director award. The pair have been friends since meeting at Harvard, where they formed an art-pop band called Chester French.

Both "La La Land" songs were performed during Sunday's telecast by singer-songwriter John Legend, who was an executive producer and co-star of "La La Land" and won his own Oscar for best song in 2015, with rapper-actor Common, for "Glory" from "Selma."

The heavy favorite to win Sunday night, Hurwitz headed into the Academy Awards ceremony with a lot of hardware already, including Golden Globe,BAFTA and Critics' Choice awards for original score and sharing a best song Globe for "City of Stars" with Pasek and Paul.

Other Wisconsin connections in the winners circle at Sunday's Oscars: "Zootopia," which won for best animated feature, was co-written by Neenah native Phil Johnston.