Brendan Fraser smiles at JFK Airport… after tearing up during The Whale premiere in Venice

Nineties heartthrob-turned-Oscar frontrunner Brendan Fraser was grinning from ear to ear as he landed at JFK Airport in New York City on Monday.

The 53-year-old SAG Award winner was dressed comfortably in head-to-toe black attire for his trans-Atlantic flight from Italy.

Brendan is still beaming over his Hollywood comeback after the fanfare from the world premiere of The Whale, in which he plays Charlie, a gay 600lb English teacher, who hopes to reconnect with his daughter.

Fraser got teary-eyed upon receiving a six-minute standing ovation for his performance during the 79th Venice International Film Festival on Sunday.

Darren Aronofsky’s critically acclaimed psychological drama, based on Samuel D. Hunter’s 2012 play, will be released in US theaters on December 9.

The Whale also features Sadie Sink, Samantha Morton, Hong Chau, Ty Simpkins and Sathya Sridharan.

‘I developed muscles I did not know I had [wearing the prosthetic fat suit],’ the Indiana native said at Sunday’s press conference, according to Variety.

‘I even felt a sense of vertigo at the end of the day when all the appliances were removed; it was like stepping off the dock onto a boat in Venice. That [sense of] undulating. It gave me appreciation for those whose bodies are similar. 

‘You need to be an incredibly strong person, mentally and physically, to inhabit that physical being.’

Last month, Brendan wrapped the fourth season of HBO Max’s Doom Patrol, in which he has a dual role as Cliff Steele/Robotman.

And next May, Fraser will attend the world premiere of Killers Of The Flower Moon at the Cannes Film Festival in France.

The No Sudden Move actor portrays a lawyer called W.S. Hamilton in Martin Scorsese’s $200M-budget big-screen adaptation of David Grann’s 2017 non-fiction book.

The 1920s Oklahoma-set drama also stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, John Lithgow, Jesse Plemons, Cara Jade Myers, Jillian Dion, and JaNae Collins.

Brendan built quite a career for himself starring in films like Encino Man (1992), School Ties (1992), With Honors (1994), George of the Jungle (1997), Gods and Monsters (1998), Blast from the Past (1999), and Bedazzled (2000).

‘I looked different in those days. My journey to where I am now has been to explore as many characters as I can,’ Fraser said of his nineties heyday.

‘And this presented the biggest challenge to me that I wanted. By far and away I think Charlie is the most heroic man I’ve ever played because his superpower is to see the good in others and bring that out in them.’

On the personal front, the Cornish College of the Arts grad has three sons — Griffin, nearly 20; Holden, 18; and Leland, 16 — from his nine-year marriage to Afton Smith, which ended in 2008.