'Stay weird, stay different': Imitation Game writer offers hope in Oscars speech

Graham Moore accepts the award for the best adapted screenplay for 'The Imitation Game' at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Invision / John Shearer)

Screenwriter Graham Moore used his Academy Award win to deliver a stirring speech about staying hopeful in the face of suicidal thoughts on Sunday.

Moore said he once attempted suicide as a 16-year-old, but he endured and went on to write the Oscar-winning Best Adapted Screenplay for 'The Imitation Game.'

His speech offered a simple message: "Stay weird, stay different and when it's your turn, please send the same message to the next person."

Moore's 'Imitation Game' script dealt with the hugely impactful life and eventual suicide of the brilliant but tortured Alan Turing, who helped crack Nazi codes during the Second World War. Turing committed suicide after he was found out as a homosexual and put on trial in Britain for indecency.

"Alan Turing never got to the stand on a stage like this," Moore said.