Oscars 2026 live: Conan O’Brien’s monologue, Michael B Jordan wins Best Actor, biggest moments

Everyone might agree Jessie Buckley was going to win, but she was still authentically emotional when her name was read out.

Buckley said, “It’s Mother’s Day in the UK today and 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.”

It also happens to be St Patrick’s Day this week, so that is a nice confluence of events for the Irish Buckley.

BEST ACTRESS

Jessie Buckley, Hamnet - WINNER

Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

Kate Hudson, Song Sung Blue

Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value

Emma Stone, Bugonia

It was looking more and more in Michael B. Jordan’s favour after winning that Screen Actors Guild Award and he has done it.

This was very much between him, Timothee Chalamet and Wagner Moura.

And no, I don’t think Chalamet’s ballet and opera comments cost him the Oscar, that happened way too late in the voting, like hours before it closed.

Jordan is a hugely popular win and you can see that room is electric.

He thanked Ryan Coogler for being his collaborator and friend, and then named the likes of Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Forrest Whitaker and Will Smith as the “giants” before him.

“Among those giants, among those greats, thank you to everybody in this room and everybody at home, everybody supporting me over my career. I know you guys want me to do well and I want to do that.

“I want to do that, because you guys bet on me. So thank you for keeping, for betting on me, and I’m going to keep stepping up, and I’m gonna keep being the best version of myself I could be.

“I love you guys, and everybody at home, you supported cinemas, you went to go see the movie once, twice, three, four, five times. Thank you because you guys made this movie what it is. I love you.”

BEST ACTOR

Timothee Chalamet, Marty Supreme

Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another

Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon

Michael B. Jordan, Sinners - WINNER

Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent

An acronym known to film lovers everywhere, Paul Thomas Anderson, the man who has gifted the world the likes of There Will Be Blood, Boogie Nights and Punch Drunk Love.

It was finally Anderson’s time, and he joked, “You make a guy work hard for one of these, I really appreciate it.”

Anderson shared the honour with Adam Somner, his assistant director who died.

He’s been a brilliant speech giver this season, and as he mentioned his fellow nominees, he added, “It’s an honour to be counted amongst you guys. There will always be some doubt in your heart that you deserve it, but there is no question at the pleasure of having it for myself.”

Touche!

BEST DIRECTOR

Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another - WINNER

Ryan Coogler, Sinners

Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme

Joachim Trier, Sentimental Value

Chloe Zhao, Hamnet

KPop Demon Hunters earworm Golden took out the Original Song.

But then the play-off music awkwardly cut off the victors and they were merciless, giving them not even 10 seconds to finish. Yikes.

Singer and songwriter Ejae said, “Growing up, you know, people made fun of me for liking K-Pop, but now everyone’s singing our song, and all the lyrics. I’m so proud.

“I realised the song, this award, is about not about success, it’s about resilience.”

BEST SONG

Dear Me, Diane Warren: Restless

Golden, KPop Demon Hunters - WINNER

I Lied to You, Sinners

Train Dreams, Train Dreams

Sweet Dreams of Joy, Viva Verdi

Sentimental Value wins for International Feature, and it’s been a particularly strong year. Not just in the films that were nominated but a bunch of incredible films that missed out.

The Norwegian film had nine nominations so it’s amazing that it’s going home with something afetr Stellan Skarsgard lost out in supporting actor.

Joachim Trier paid tribute to the other nominees, “I want to, because I’m in this category, and I feel I represent global filmmakers, and in a moment like this, I just want to recognise the wonderful films that, um, we were nominated together with, important, beautiful films that reflect our present crisis and the crisis of the past.

“I want to end by quoting, or not actually quoting, but paraphrasing, rather, the wonderful American writer, James Baldwin. It makes us remember that all adults are responsible for all children, and let’s not vote for politicians who don’t take this seriously into account.”

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

It Was Just An Accident

The Secret Agent

Sentimental Value - WINNER

Sirat

The Voice of Hind Rajab

Autumn Durald Arkapaw is the first woman to ever in the cinematography category, and she is only the fourth woman to ever be nominated.

She’s married to an Australian, so we will kind of claim her!

Durald Arkapaw mentioned Rachel Morrison, the first woman ever nominated for cinematography, and she asked all the women in the room to stand up.

“I really want all the women in the room to stand up because I feel like I don’t get here without you guys. I have felt so much love from all the women on this whole campaign, and gotten to meet so many people, and I just feel like moments like this happen because of you guys, and I want to thank you for that,” she said.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Frankenstein

Marty Supreme

One Battle After Another

Sinners - WINNER

Train Dreams

The Editing category is often seen as predictive of the eventual Picture winner, so could this be instructive of where this is going?

One Battle After Another is looking good for the big prize if that’s the case.

Never forget the incredible chase scene at the end, that was masterful editing, and that’s a huge part of why One Battle won this.

Winner Andy Jurgensen called out his aunt Barbara Hall who was an archivist for the Academy for 25 years.

“She loved her dog and she loved showing old movies and teaching me about film history, and I miss her every day.”

BEST FILM EDITING

F1

Marty Supreme

One Battle After Another - WINNER

Sentimental Value

Sinners

F1 takes the Oscar for sound. It definitely had quite the soundscape.

BEST SOUND

F1 - WINNER

Frankenstein

One Battle After Another

Sinners

Sirat

Ludwig Goransson is no stranger to the Oscar stage. This is his third win, having previously collected victories for Oppenheimer and Black Panther.

He is a frequent collaborator of Ryan Coogler’s.

Goransson said, “My dad bought his first blues album in Sweden, 1964. It was a John Lee Hooker album, and even though it was on the other side of the world, from the place, my dad never been, and the place he could not relate to, the music was so powerful that it changed my dad’s life.

“He devoted his whole life to music, and when I was about 7 years old, a little boy, he put a guitar in my arms, and I loved the guitar, and it became everything to me, and it was the guitar that opened up the lot of doors for me.

“It was the guitar that brought me over to the States, and it was the guitar that eventually led me to one of the greatest storytellers of our time, Ryan Coogler.”

BEST SCORE

Bugonia

Frankenstein

Hamnet

One Battle After Another

Sinners - WINNER

While presenting the Best Live Action Short Film award, Kumail Nanjiani joked that longer films would be better as shorts.

During his joke, he said “Schindler’s List” could have just been “Schindler’s Post It”.

“Can’t say that Schindler’s List joke was uh in any good taste!” one person wrote on X.

“At the #Oscars, they just made an offensive joke by swapping Schindler’s List for #SchindlerPostIt, and the translator didn’t translate it—she caught on instantly and just went silent during that part. Did you notice it?” another wrote online.