After months of cinematic debates, relentless online discourse and more campaigning than a federal election, awards season finally reached its grand finale: the 2026 Oscars.
Hollywood’s biggest stars descended on the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles for the 98th Academy Awards — the most extravagant, unpredictable and occasionally unhinged night in film.
If you weren’t able to tune in for yourself, then you’re in luck because we live-blogged the whole damn thing, from the red carpet fits and viral moments to the big winners, shocking snubs and everything in between. So if you’d rather catch up on the chaos here than watch a three-hour recap of orchestra play-offs and polite clapping, you’re in the right place.
What you need to know
- The nominees: The race for the biggest prizes at this year’s Academy Awards was packed with a mix of blockbuster spectacles and indie favourites. In Best Picture, films including Bugonia, F1, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, Sinners and Train Dreams all competed for Hollywood’s biggest prize. Meanwhile, the acting races featured major stars like Timothée Chalamet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael B. Jordan, Emma Stone and Rose Byrne.
- The host: Hosting this year’s Academy Awards was legendary late-night comedian Conan O’Brien, who returned to emcee Hollywood’s biggest night for the second year in a row.
The Oscars 2026 Live Blog
One Battle After Another wins Best Picture
And the Oscar for Best Picture goes to… One Battle After Another! The star-studded film officially racked up six awards during the ceremony — the most wins this year — including Best Casting, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Film Editing, Best Directing and Best Picture. HUGE!
The film’s star Teyana Taylor jokingly put Paul Thomas Anderson in a headlock as they walked up on stage together (which is very Perfidia Beverly Hills, IMO), and the director thanked his cast and crew in his speech.
“What a night. You guys, let’s have a martini. this is pretty amazing,” he said.
Jessie Buckley wins Best Actress
After dominating this year’s awards season, no one was particularly surprised when Jessie Buckley won Best Actress for her role in Hamnet. The Irish actress acknowledged that the Oscars were taking place on the same day as Mother’s Day in the UK, and dedicated her award to “the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart”.
“We all come from a lineage of women who continue to create against all odds,” she said.
Michael B. Jordan Wins Best Actor
It’s been neck-and-neck between Timothée Chalamet and Michael B. Jordan throughout this year’s award season, but in the end, it was the Sinners star who won Best Actor. I have a feeling Timmy’s disdain for opera and ballet will only increase now.
Michael used his speech to shout out the six other Black actors who have won an Academy Award in a lead performance, including Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker and Will Smith, and Timothée stood up to applaud the first-time Oscar winner.
Paul Thomas Anderson wins Best Director
Finally! Paul Thomas Anderson has taken home his first Oscar for Best Director (and his second award of the night), beating out Chloé Zhao, Josh Safdie, Joachim Trier and Ryan Coogler. What does this mean for Best Picture?! Well, it’s almost time to find out.
“Golden” wins Best Original Song
Unfortunately for Diane Warren — who has now lost all 17 Oscars she has been nominated for — the award for Best Original Song unsurprisingly went to “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters. The pop hit made history as the first K-pop song to win Best Original Song, and brings the film’s award count to two for two after winning Best Animated Feature Film.
Sadly, their acceptance speech was cut short when the microphone cut off and the ceremony cut to an ad break. Awkward.
Sentimental Value wins Best International Feature Film
We’re almost there, guys! The Norwegian film Sentimental Value, starring Stellan Skarsgard, Renate Reinsve and Elle Fanning, has won the award for Best International Feature Film.
Priyanka Chopra Jones and Javier Bardem handed out the trophy, with Javier receiving a huge round of applause for saying “no to war and free Palestine”.
The Oscars turn Golden
As if the Oscars weren’t already golden enough, Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami belted out their smash hit from KPop Demon Hunters towards the end of the ceremony. The trio had everyone in the room singing along, from Emma Stone and Gwyneth Paltrow to Teyana Taylor and Rose Byrne. They get it!
Autumn Durald Arkapaw makes Oscars history
After making history as the first woman of colour to be nominated for Best Cinematography, Autumn Durald Arkapaw officially became the first woman to win the award. She created a powerful moment during her acceptance speech when she asked all of the women in the room to stand up.
“All the women stand up, because I don’t get here without you guys,” she said.
A Bridesmaids reunion!
To celebrate 15 years since Bridesmaids (literally how), Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, Ellie Kemper and this year’s nominee Rose Byrne reunited to present the award for Best Score. Before they read out the winner (Sinners), they each read fake notes sent from celebs in the audience.
“Rose, can you please stop looking at me? The eye contact is too much, I’m thinking of leaving, I’m very uncomfortable. Sincerely, Leonardo DiCaprio,” Rose read.
Hamnet‘s 12-year-old star Jacobi Jupe stole the show, however, when Ellie read out a note supposedly from him complaining that the award ceremony was too long and there was no pizza, and the camera then cut to him giving a serious nod.
Viewers in tears after powerful In Memoriam
The In Memoriam segment began with Billy Crystal honouring Hollywood actor and director Rob Reiner and his wife, photographer Michele Singer Reiner. The couple were found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home in December, with their son Nick Reiner charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
Billy said his friend Rob’s films will last a lifetime “because they’re about what make us laugh and cry, and what we aspire to be”. He was then joined on stage by fellow actors, including Kathy Bates, Demi Moore, Annette Bening, Kiefer Sutherland and Billy’s When Harry Met Sally co-star Meg Ryan, who linked arms before the In Memoriam played.
Rachel McAdams also brought viewers to tears with her tributes to fellow Canadian Catherine O’Hara and Diane Keaton, who she acted alongside in The Family Stone and Morning Glory.
“She wore so many hats, literally and figuratively — actress, artist, author, activist, but no hat more important to her than being a mother to her two children,” Rachel said about Diane.
“She meant so much to so many of us. I remember she used to sing this old Girl Scout song she used to sing on set, which is just so her: ‘Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, and the other is gold. A circle is round, it has no end. That’s how long I’ll be your friend.’ And so to our friend, Diane Keaton, celebrating a life in silver and gold, a legend with no end.”
Rounding out the emotional segment was Barbra Streisand, who came on stage to honour her late co-star Robert Redford, and sang the title track from their 1973 romance film The Way We Were. Viewers took to social media to admit they were “in tears” during the tributes, and described it as “the best In Memoriam they have ever done”.
Best Screenplay winners confirm Best Picture favourites
One Battle After Another only increased its chances of winning Best Picture when it took home the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The win marked Paul Thomas Anderson’s first-ever Oscar after 11 previous unsuccessful nominations — so there’s still hope, Diane Warren!
Meanwhile, the other Best Picture favourite Sinners won Best Original Screenplay, also marking Ryan Coogler’s first Oscar. Wow, this is STRESSFUL.
Sean Penn wins Best Supporting Actor — but doesn’t give a speech
Sean Penn beat out Aussie Jacob Elordi in the Best Supporting Actor category, but wasn’t in attendance to accept it. Last year’s winner Kieran Culkin awkwardly announced that the One Battle After Another star “couldn’t be here tonight, or didn’t want to”, and instead accepted it on his behalf.
Sean, who is now a three-time Oscar winner, also skipped both the Actor Awards and BAFTA Awards earlier in the year (where he took out the same award), so it wasn’t too surprising that he was a no-show at the Academy Awards.
It’s a tie!
Kumail Nanjiani announced that there were two winners for Best Live Action Short Film — The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva — and joked that it was ironic that the category for short film would take twice as long. Both winners gave heartfelt acceptance speeches — the last of which was awkwardly cut off mid-speech before they returned and made yet another joke about theatre and ballet at Timothée Chalamet’s expense.
And if you were wondering if there’s ever been an Oscars tie before, it’s actually happened six times. This includes 1932 when Fredric March and Wallace Beery both won Best Actor, 1950 when A Chance to Live and So Much for So Little both won Best Documentary Short, 1969 when Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand both won Best Actress, 1987 when Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got and Down and Out in America both won Best Documentary Feature, 1995 when Trevor and Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life both won Live Action Short, and most recently 2013 when Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty both won Sound Editing.
The first-ever winner of Best Casting
Cassandra Kulukundis became the inaugural winner of Best Casting for her work on One Battle After Another, which starred icons such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, Alana Haim and newcomer Chase Infiniti.
It’s a shame the award wasn’t introduced earlier, as Oceans 8, Bridesmaids and Valentine’s Day each deserve an award for their truly star-studded casts.
Anna Wintour and Anne Hathaway team up
Ahead of The Devil Wears Prada 2, Anne Hathaway teamed up with Vogue‘s former editor-in-chief Anna Wintour to present the awards for Best Costume Design and Best Makeup and Hairstyling (both went to Frankenstein). The pair shared an iconic interaction when Anne asked for Anna’s thoughts on her dress, and she instead began reading out the nominees.
Anna also channelled Meryl Streep‘s Miranda Priestly (very meta) as she called Anne “Emily” before announcing the nominees for the second award, and we could not be more excited for the film’s sequel on April 30.
KPop Demon Hunters wins its first Oscar
2025 breakout hit KPop Demon Hunters is officially an Academy Award-winning film after it took out Best Animated Feature Film. The movie is also up for Best Original Song later in the night, so expect to have “Golden” stuck in your head for the rest of the day.
Meanwhile, the Canadian short The Girl Who Cried Pearls won Best Animated Short Film.
Amy Madigan wins Best Supporting Actress
The race was tight between Weapons’ Amy Madigan and One Battle After Another’s Teyana Taylor, but Amy officially took out the Best Supporting Actress role for her iconic (and utterly terrifying) role as Aunt Gladys.
“I was in the shower last night trying to think of something to say as I was shaving my legs — I’ve got pants on, I don’t need to worry about that,” she said during her speech.
Conan O’Brien’s opening monologue
Conan O’Brien kicked off the star-studded ceremony, and truly nothing was off limits. The monologue started strong when he said security was tight because there were concerns about “attacks from both the opera and ballet communities” in reference to Timothée Chalamet’s recent scandal.
“They’re just mad you left out jazz,” he told the actor, who laughed along in the front row next to his partner Kylie Jenner — who will no doubt be nominated next year for her cameo in The Moment.
The gag continued right until the end of the monologue, when Josh Groban performed an opera number as Conan acted out how he would accept an Oscar.
The comedian also joked that he was “the last human host of the Academy Awards”, and reminded everyone of Turning Point USA’s cursed “All-American Halftime Show” last month by saying there was an alternate Oscars hosted by Kid Rock “at the Dave & Buster’s down the street”.
He joked that it was Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos’ first time in a theatre, said Hamnet and Bugonia “sound like off-brand lunch meat”, and received the biggest reaction when he addressed the fact that this was the first time since 2012 that there are no British actors nominated for Best Actor or Best Actress.
“A British spokesperson said, ‘Yeah, well, at least we arrest our pedophiles,” he remarked. Ooft.
You can check out the full list of winners from the 2026 Oscars here, and the red carpet looks here.
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