Robert Aramayo’s Best Actor win was a major upset – and proved the often out-of-touch Academy is at last recognising British talent
Until just before the end, the “long-haul flight on Air Bafta”, as impish host Alan Cumming described it, was progressing smoothly with no turbulence. The expected films – One Battle After Another and Sinners – were winning the expected awards and Cumming himself was settling nicely into his tricky master of ceremonies role after an alarmingly flat start.
Everyone was waiting in happy anticipation for the expected anointing of Jessie B and Timmy C as the Queen and King of Filmland, or rather the awarding of Best Actress and Best Actor to Jessie Buckley and Timothée Chalamet for their outstanding work in Hamnet and Marty Supreme respectively. And then Robert Aramayo’s name was called out twice in quick succession and all thoughts of a swift dash to the Royal Festival Hall bar for post-show drinks vanished.
To say Aramayo was not tipped to win Best Actor, beating Hollywood royalty Leonardo DiCaprio and Ethan Hawke as well as Chalamet in the process, is a considerable understatement. This Hull-born performer, who only on Saturday finished a run at London’s Royal Court Theatre in the five-star play Guess How Much I Love You, was the lead in last year’s terrific breakout hit I Swear, one of my favourite films of 2025.
Robert Aramayo was lost for words when he won Best Actor (Photo: Stuart Wilson/Getty for Bafta)
It’s based upon the true story of John Anderson, a Scot who suffered with and campaigned to raise awareness of Tourette’s syndrome and is heart-warming and hard-hitting in exactly the right doses, a mixture British films too often misjudge. Aramayo’s outstanding performance confirmed him as a name for the future, which made him a deserving winner of the Bafta Award for Rising Star and he was visibly delighted with this recognition, obviously expecting that his prize haul for the evening was over.
Criticism has been levelled at the Baftas in recent years that, rather than focus upon rewarding British talent as they used to, they have become a slavish follower of American awards trends, meaning that the nominations shortlists tend to be deluged with Hollywood names.
This is the last major awards ceremony before the Oscars, which this year takes place on 15 March, and is often seen as a reliable prelude to the final lap of a lengthy prize-giving season. Chalamet has not been shy about his desire to bag an Oscar and throughout last night’s ceremony the television cameras, wanting to record him moving one step closer to his goal, kept homing in on him and girlfriend Kylie Jenner, situated as they were at the end of a row, to make easier his anticipated journey to the stage.
Aramayo as John Davidson in I Swear (Photo: Graeme Hunter/I Swear/Tempo Productions/One Story High)
The pair had to endure some nonsense from Cumming in a skit about giving British snacks to Hollywood stars, but Chalamet gamely took the Scampi Fries and Jammie Dodgers (Emma Stone seemed thrilled with her Hula Hoops) and thought about the prize to come. The look on his face when Aramayo’s name was called instead of his was a masterpiece in managed disappointment bordering upon outright contempt and seemed to suggest that he and Jenner hadn’t trekked to rainy old London for this sort of malarkey. As for Aramayo, he was so astounded to be back at the podium that he was temporarily lost for words. His proud family whooped from the balcony.
All hope is not lost for Chalamet, as he remains odds-on favourite for the Oscar, for which Aramayo is not even nominated (I fear that his tic and expletive-laden Scottish accent in I Swear won’t make for easy comprehension on the other side of the Atlantic). Buckley calmed Air Bafta’s turbulence by winning last night and will almost certainly do so again; her gracious and effusive acceptance speech further cemented her widespread popularity in the acting community. Even so, it was that one delightful shock upset that was the undisputed highlight of the evening.