2026 Oscars Winners: Full List of Academy Award Winners Including Best Actress and Best Picture

Published: March 16, 2026  |  Entertainment  |  98th Academy Awards  |  8 min read

Oscars 2026 Winners: The 98th Academy Awards took place on March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, hosted by Conan O’Brien for the second year in a row. It was one of the most historic Oscar nights in decades — a record-breaking night for Sinners, a sweep for Paul Thomas Anderson, a landmark Best Actress win, the first K-pop Oscar, a rare tie, and an In Memoriam that left the audience in tears.

🎬 Night’s biggest winners: One Battle After Another — 6 wins including Best Picture  |  Sinners — 4 wins from a record 16 nominations  |  Frankenstein — 3 craft wins  |  KPop Demon Hunters — 2 wins

Oscars 2026 Winners: Full List

🎬 Best Picture Winner 2026

Best Picture — 2026 Winner

One Battle After Another

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson — Warner Bros.

One Battle After Another claimed the night’s top prize with six wins total. Producer Sara Murphy accepted alongside Anderson, saying her heart was “exploding with gratitude.” Anderson closed the entire show saying: “What a night, you guys. Let’s have a martini. This is amazing. Cheers.”

The other nine Best Picture nominees were Bugonia, F1, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, Sinners, and Train Dreams.

👑 Best Actress Oscar 2026 Winner — Jessie Buckley

Best Actress in a Leading Role — 2026 Winner

Jessie Buckley

Hamnet — Focus Features

Jessie Buckley won for her portrayal of Agnes — William Shakespeare’s wife grieving the death of their son Hamnet — in Maggie O’Farrell’s adaptation. It was her second Oscar nomination and first win. She became the first Irishwoman ever to win the Academy Award for Best Actress.

She accepted on Mother’s Day in the United Kingdom and dedicated the award accordingly. She had previously said the role met her at a pivotal personal time: “Sometimes stories just meet you at a moment of your life. For me, at that time, I really wanted to become a mother.”

“I would like to dedicate this to the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart. We all come from a lineage of women who continue to create against all odds.” — Jessie Buckley, Best Actress acceptance speech, 98th Academy Awards

Other nominees: Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You), Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue), Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value), Emma Stone (Bugonia).

Jessie Buckley: Biography — From Killarney to Oscar Glory

Early Life and Background

Jessie Buckley was born on December 28, 1989, in Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland — the eldest of five children. Her father, Tim Buckley, is a hotel bar manager and poet. Her mother, Marina Cassidy, is a vocal coach, music psychotherapist, and professional singer and harpist.

Growing up in a musical, television-free household, Buckley learned piano, saxophone, clarinet, and harp from an early age, and performed in school productions throughout her childhood. She attended Ursuline Secondary School in Thurles, County Tipperary, where her mother worked as a vocal coach.

The Breakthrough — I’d Do Anything (2008)

Buckley’s public breakthrough came in 2008 when, at just 18, she appeared on the BBC talent search show I’d Do Anything — a nationwide competition to cast the role of Nancy in a West End revival of Oliver! She finished as runner-up, narrowly missing the role itself.

But the experience changed the course of her life: judges Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh were so impressed that they personally encouraged her to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). She took their advice, graduated with a BA in 2013, and never looked back. She turned down an understudy offer for the production, choosing instead to build a career on her own terms.

Stage and Early Screen Career

After RADA, Buckley quickly established herself on the British stage. Early highlights include playing Miranda in The Tempest at Shakespeare’s Globe in 2013 and starring in the West End transfer of A Little Night Music. Her early television work included a key role in the 2016 BBC adaptation of War and Peace, which introduced her to international audiences for the first time.

Rise to Global Acclaim

Buckley’s film career launched in earnest with her 2017 debut in Beast, but it was Wild Rose (2018) — in which she played a Scottish country singer fresh out of prison — that announced her as a major talent, earning her a BAFTA nomination and widespread critical acclaim. From there, her ascent was rapid and unbroken.

In 2019, she delivered one of the most talked-about performances in television history as Lyudmilla Ignatenko in HBO’s Chernobyl — a role that brought her global recognition. She followed it with the unsettling Charlie Kaufman film I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020), Fargo Season 4 (2020), the critically acclaimed Women Talking (2022), and Alex Garland’s horror film Men (2022).

Oscar Nominations

Buckley received her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter (2021). Though she did not win that year, the nomination cemented her status as one of the finest screen actors of her generation.

Her second nomination — and first win — came for Hamnet (2025), directed by Chloé Zhao, in which she plays Agnes (also known as Agnes Hathaway) — William Shakespeare’s wife — grieving the death of their son Hamnet.

The performance swept the entire awards season, collecting the Golden Globe, BAFTA, Critics Choice Award, and SAG Award before culminating in her Academy Award on March 15, 2026. She became the first Irishwoman in Oscar history to win the Best Actress award.

“Sometimes stories just meet you at a moment of your life. For me, at that time, I really wanted to become a mother. I met this incredible force of nature who was both strong and tender, and she taught me the capacity of love a mother can have. I was changed after I got to live beside her and inside her.” — Jessie Buckley on playing Agnes in Hamnet

Personal Life

Buckley is married to Freddie Sorensen, a mental health worker. The couple met on a blind date arranged by a mutual friend and married in summer 2023. They welcomed their first child — a daughter — in late 2025, just months before Buckley’s Oscar win.

She has spoken openly about how the experience of playing Agnes — a mother consumed by grief — intersected with her own journey into parenthood: “The beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart,” as she said in her acceptance speech, was not merely a dedication. It was lived experience.

Buckley keeps her family life intensely private — Freddie maintains anonymity due to his profession — and the couple splits time between Norwich and East London. She has described home life as a vital counterweight to the awards circuit: “I like to simmer in it, but also be human and be with my husband, be with my daughter, cook, not care.”

Awards Sweep — 2025–2026 Season

Legacy

At 36, Jessie Buckley has already completed one of the most extraordinary rises to awards dominance in modern acting history. From a television talent show runner-up in a small town in Kerry, to the winner of every major acting prize the industry can bestow — in a single season — her story is one of patience, craft, and absolute conviction. She is widely regarded as one of Ireland’s greatest ever exports to global cinema, and one of the most versatile and fearless performers working today.

🎭 Best Actor Oscar 2026 Winner

Best Actor in a Leading Role — 2026 Winner

Michael B. Jordan

Sinners — Warner Bros.

Michael B. Jordan won for his dual performance as twin brothers Smoke and Stack in Ryan Coogler’s supernatural horror epic Sinners. It was his first Oscar nomination and first win. In his acceptance speech he paid tribute to director Coogler: “You gave me the opportunity and space for me to be seen, and I love you, bro, love you to death.” He finished: “Thank you for betting on me — I’m going to keep stepping up.”

Other nominees: Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme), Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another), Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon), Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent).

🌟 Best Supporting Actress 2026 Winner

Best Supporting Actress — 2026 Winner

Amy Madigan

Weapons

Amy Madigan, 75, won the first award of the night for her role as the sinister Aunt Gladys in the horror thriller Weapons. The win came 40 years after her only previous nomination — for Twice in a Lifetime in 1986 — breaking the record for the longest gap between Oscar nominations. She ended her speech with an emotional tribute to her husband of over four decades, actor Ed Harris: “The most important is my beloved Ed, who’s been with me forever… none of this would mean anything if he wasn’t by my side.”

Other nominees: Elle Fanning (Sentimental Value), Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (Sentimental Value), Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners), Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another).

🎬 Best Supporting Actor 2026 Winner

Best Supporting Actor — 2026 Winner

One Battle After Another — Warner Bros.

Sean Penn

Sean Penn won Best Supporting Actor for One Battle After Another. He was notably not present at the ceremony to accept. Other nominees: Benicio del Toro (One Battle After Another), Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein), Delroy Lindo (Sinners), Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value).

🎥 Best Director 2026 Winner

Best Directing — 2026 Winner

Paul Thomas Anderson

One Battle After Another — Warner Bros.

Paul Thomas Anderson won his first directing Oscar after 11 previous nominations. He dedicated the win to his late collaborator Adam Somner: “He’s in a really big bar up in the sky right now, having a gin and tonic, and he is so happy.” He also acknowledged his partner Maya Rudolph, and noted of the statue: “There will always be some doubt in your heart that you deserve it. But there is no question the pleasure of having it for myself.”

Other nominees: Ryan Coogler (Sinners), Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme), Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value), Chloé Zhao (Hamnet).

🎵 Best Original Song 2026 Winner

Best Original Song — 2026 Winner

“Golden” — KPop Demon Hunters

Netflix — Performed live by EJAE, Audrey Nuna & Rei Ami (as Huntr/X)

“Golden” made history as the first K-pop song ever to win an Academy Award. EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami — the voices of the fictional K-pop group Huntr/X — performed it live on stage alongside Korean instrumentalists and dancers. Other nominated songs: “Dear Me” (Diane Warren: Relentless), “I Lied to You” (Sinners), “Sweet Dreams of Joy” (Viva Verdi!), “Train Dreams” (Train Dreams).

Complete Oscars 2026 Winners — All 24 Categories

Key Storylines From the 98th Oscars Night

🎬 One Battle After Another — 6 Wins, Night’s Biggest Winner

PTA’s film swept the night with Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Sean Penn), Best Film Editing, and Best Casting. Anderson dedicated his directing award to his late collaborator Adam Somner. In his Adapted Screenplay speech he said: “I wrote this movie for my kids, to say sorry for the housekeeping mess that we left in this world we’re handing off to them.”

🏆 Sinners — 16 Nominations, All-Time Oscar Record

Sinners entered the night with 16 nominations — shattering the all-time record of 14 previously shared by Titanic, All About Eve, and La La Land. It also represented the most individual Black nominees from a single film in Oscar history. It won four: Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score (Ludwig Göransson’s third career Oscar), and Best Cinematography.

📸 History Behind the Camera — First Woman and First Black Cinematography Winner

Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman and first Black person ever to win Best Cinematography — in a category existing since 1929. On accepting her award she said: “I really want all the women in this room to stand up, because I feel like I don’t get here without you guys.” The women in the audience rose to their feet.

👑 Jessie Buckley — First Irish Best Actress Winner

Buckley’s win for Hamnet made her the first Irishwoman ever to win Best Actress. Her second nomination became her first win. She accepted on Mother’s Day in the UK — dedicating it to “the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart” — and acknowledged her fellow nominees: “I am inspired by your art and your heart, and I want to work with every single one of you.”

⭐ A Brand New Oscar Category — Best Casting

The 2026 ceremony introduced the first new Oscar category since Best Animated Feature in 2001 — Best Achievement in Casting. Cassandra Kulukundis won the inaugural award for One Battle After Another, dedicating it to all the casting directors “who never got a chance to get up here, who didn’t even get a chance to get their name on the movie.”

🎵 K-Pop Makes Oscar History

“Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters became the first K-pop song ever to win an Academy Award. The Netflix film — the platform’s all-time most-streamed movie — also won Best Animated Feature, making it a double winner. Co-director Maggie Kang said onstage: “This is for Korea and Koreans everywhere.”

🤝 A Rare Oscars Tie — Only the Sixth in History

Best Live Action Short ended in the sixth tie in Oscar history and the first since 2013, when Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall tied for Best Sound Editing. Both The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva won. Presenter Kumail Nanjiani deadpanned: “I’m not joking. It’s actually a tie. Everyone calm down, we’re going to get through this. Focus up.”

😂 Best Moments, Surprises and Red Carpet

Conan O’Brien opened the show by channelling Amy Madigan’s “Aunt Gladys” character from Weapons in a pre-recorded sketch, poking fun at nominees and films. Robert Downey Jr. presented Channing Tatum’s Magic Mike thong as a “gift” to Chris Evans — Tatum quipped from the audience: “I gotta work later, dude.” Anna Wintour joined Anne Hathaway to present Best Costume Design in a full Devil Wears Prada callback, silently ignoring Hathaway’s question about her dress. Sigourney Weaver, Pedro Pascal, and Grogu from Star Wars made a surprise appearance ahead of The Mandalorian & Grogu releasing May 22. The cast of Bridesmaids reunited 15 years on — Rose Byrne, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, and Ellie Kemper — to present Best Original Score. Best Documentary Short winner Gloria Cazares, whose 9-year-old daughter Jackie was killed in the 2022 Uvalde school shooting, spoke onstage about her daughter’s bedroom being “frozen in time” — one of the night’s most powerful and heartbreaking moments.

💔 In Memoriam — Rob Reiner, Robert Redford, and More

The In Memoriam opened with a devastating tribute to Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner, found dead at their Brentwood home in December, with their son Nick charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

Billy Crystal paid tribute, quoting The Princess Bride: “Buddy, what fun we had storming the castle.” Meg Ryan, Demi Moore, Kathy Bates, Kiefer Sutherland, and Mandy Patinkin joined Crystal onstage.

Rachel McAdams honoured Diane Keaton and Catherine O’Hara. Barbra Streisand then honoured Robert Redford — calling him an “intellectual cowboy who blazed his own trail” — before performing a rendition of “The Way We Were” as a final farewell.

Frequently Asked Questions — 2026 Oscars

Q: Who won Best Picture at the 2026 Oscars?

One Battle After Another, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, won Best Picture at the 2026 Oscars with six total wins — the most of any film on the night.

Q: Who won Best Actress at the 2026 Oscars?

Jessie Buckley won Best Actress for Hamnet, playing Agnes — William Shakespeare’s wife. It was her second nomination and first win. She is the first Irishwoman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Q: Who won Best Actor at the 2026 Oscars?

Michael B. Jordan won Best Actor for his dual role as Smoke and Stack in Sinners — his first Oscar nomination and first win.

Q: Who won Best Director at the 2026 Oscars?

Paul Thomas Anderson won Best Director for One Battle After Another — his first Oscar win after 11 previous nominations.

Q: Who hosted the 2026 Oscars?

Conan O’Brien hosted the 98th Academy Awards for the second year in a row at the Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles, on March 15, 2026.

Q: Which film won the most Oscars in 2026?

One Battle After Another led with six wins. Sinners won four. Frankenstein won three craft awards. KPop Demon Hunters won two.

Q: How many nominations did Sinners receive?

Sinners received 16 nominations — the all-time Oscar record, surpassing the previous record of 14 held by Titanic, All About Eve, and La La Land.

Q: What was historic about the 2026 Best Cinematography win?

Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman and first Black person ever to win the Best Cinematography Oscar for Sinners — in a category existing since 1929.

Q: Was there a tie at the 2026 Oscars?

Yes. Best Live Action Short ended in a tie — the sixth in Oscar history and first since 2013. Both The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva won.

Q: What was the new Oscar category in 2026?

Best Achievement in Casting was introduced — the first new Oscar category since Best Animated Feature in 2001. Cassandra Kulukundis won for One Battle After Another.