The 2026 Oscars ceremony was full of unexpected moments, history-making wins, and undeniably moving speeches. Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another won the biggest award of the night, Best Picture, with Anderson also winning the Best Director award, Sean Penn won for Best Supporting Actor, and the script was awarded Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay).
“I wrote this movie for my kids, to say sorry for the housekeeping mess that we left in this world, that we’re handing off to them,” Anderson said when he accepted the screenplay award. “But also the encouragement that they will be the generation that hopefully brings us some common sense and decency.”
‘Sinners’ makes history
Sinners went into the ceremony as a favourite, after setting a new record for the most nominated film, with 16 nods.
The film’s star, Michael B. Jordan, won the Best Actor Oscar, his first.
“I stand here because of the people who came before me, Sydney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, Will Smith, and to be amongst those giants, amongst those greats. amongst my ancestors, … thank you to everybody in this room and everybody at home,” Jordan said. “I know you guys want me to do well, and I want to do that because you guys bet on me, so thank you, … and I’m going to keep stepping up.”
Jordan also thanked everyone who saw Sinners and “made this movie what it is.”
Autumn Durald Arkapaw, winner of the award for cinematography for “Sinners,” poses in the press room at the Oscars on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
(Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Additionally, Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman to win the Oscar for Best Cinematography, for her work on Sinners, and got a standing ovation as she walked up to the stage. And the film’s director, Ryan Coogler, carried her son, Aidan, down so he could be closer to the stage to see his mom accept the award.
During her speech, Arkapaw asked all the women in the room to stand up.
“I don’t get here without you guys,” she said. “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.”
Conan O’Brien on Timothée Chalamet backlash
O’Brien kicked off the event with a skit, dressing as Amy Madigan’s Weapons character, Aunt Gladys, running through all the Oscar-nominated films.
To start the opening monologue, he said he’s happy to be “the last human host of the Academy Awards.”
“Next year, it’s going to be a Waymo in a tux,” the comedian said.
It also didn’t take long for O’Brien to reference the ongoing backlash to Timothée Chalamet, who’s nominated for Best Actor for his role in Marty Supreme, saying that “no one” cares about ballet and opera.
“Security is extremely tight tonight. … We’re told there are concerns about attacks from both the opera and ballet communities,” O’Brien said, as the camera shows Chalamet and his girlfriend, Kylie Jenner, laughing in the crowd.
Making fun of the “All-American Halftime Show” for Super Bowl LX, O’Brien said that the night will get political, and if anyone doesn’t want to see that, there’s an alternate Oscars being hosted by Kid Rock at Dave & Buster’s.
As O’Brien started mentioning the nominated movies, he said in Hamnet, Jessie Buckley’s character Agnes gives birth by herself in the woods, with the comedian saying that in the U.S., that’s called “affordable healthcare.”
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 15: (L-R) Chris Appelhans, Maggie Kang, and Michelle Wong accept the Animated Feature Film for “KPop Demon Hunters” onstage during the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
(Kevin Winter via Getty Images)Canadians win big
Canadians won big at the beginning of the awards ceremony, starting with KPop Demon Hunters winning Best Animated Feature, created, co-written and co-directed by Canadian Maggie Kang, with co-writer and co-director Chris Appelhans.
“For those of you who look like me, I’m so sorry that it took us so long to see us in a movie like this,” Kang said. “But it is here, and that means that the next generation don’t have to go longing. This is for Korea and for Koreans everywhere.”
Appelhans added that music and stories have the power to connect humans “across culture and borders,” and urged artists to “tell your stories, sing in your voice, I promise the world is waiting.”
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 15: (L-R) Maciek Szczerbowski and Chris Lavis accept the Animated Short Film award for “The Girl Who Cried Pearls ” onstage during the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
(Kevin Winter via Getty Images)
Following that win, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) movie, the Montreal-set film The Girl Who Cried Pearls, won Best Animated Short Film, with director Maciek Szczerbowski and Chris Lavis thanking Canada, specifically Montreal.
“This award is a tribute to all the artists who shared this labour with us. They are not just names in the credits, they are our community, and their extraordinary talent and hard work made this possible,” a statement from Lavis and Szczerbowski, provided by the NFB, reads.
“We’d especially like to thank the National Film Board of Canada for their enduring support, and the Academy for continuing to champion short animated film … The support we’ve gotten from friends and family these past weeks has been overwhelming. We can’t express how meaningful it’s been. Now we may finally get a free beer from our local pub.”
Hair and make-up artists (L/R) Jordan Samuel, Mike Hill and Cliona Furey speak onstage after winning the Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling for “Frankenstein” during the 98th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 15, 2026. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)
(PATRICK T. FALLON via Getty Images)
And that’s not all. Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein won the Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, with the team including two Canadian talents, Toronto-based Cliona Furey and Jordan Samuel, who accepted their awards on-stage at the ceremony.
Remembering Rob Reiner, Robert Redford, Catherine O’Hara and Diane Keaton
The In Memoriam segment of the Oscars was particularly emotional this year, including a tribute to Rob Reiner from Billy Crystal.
“My friend Rob’s movies will last for lifetimes because they were about what makes us laugh, and cry, and what we aspire to be. Far better in his eyes, far kinder, far funnier and far more human,” Crystal said. “And when Michele Singer entered his life, they were unstoppable. … It was her energy that had them work tirelessly to fight social injustice in the country that they both loved. … Rob and Michele Reiner became the driving force in the landmark decision for marriage equality across the United States, and their loss is immeasurable.”
“To the millions who have enjoyed his films all these years, I want you to know, here and around the world, … Rob told me that it meant everything to him that this work meant something to you. And for us, who had the privilege of working with and knowing him and loving him, all we can say is, buddy, what fun we had storming the castle.”
Hollywood, CA – March 15, 2026: Barbra Streisand delivers a tribute to Robert Redford during the 98th Annual Academy Awards held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
(Robert Gauthier via Getty Images)
Then, Barbra Streisand took the stage to talk about Robert Redford, who was he costar in The Way We Were.
“After I read the first script of The Way We Were, I could only imagine one man in the role of Hubbell, and that was Robert Redford. But he turned it down because he said the character has no backbone, … and he was right,” Streisand said, adding that he finally agreed after several rewrites.
“Bob had real backbone on and off the screen. He spoke up to defend freedom of the press, protect the environment, and encourage new voices at his Sundance Institute. … He was thoughtful and bold, I called him an intellectual cowboy who blazed his own trail. … I miss him now more than ever, even though he loved teasing me. He’d call me ‘Babs’ and I’d say, ‘Bob, do I look like a Babs?’ … The way he said it made me laugh, and many years later we were chatting on the phone about the usual, politics, art, … and as we were hanging up, he said, ‘Babs, I love you dearly and I always will.’ And in the last note I ever wrote to Bob I ended it with, ‘I love you too,’ and I signed it Babs.”
Streisand ended her tribute by singing her song, “The Way We Were.”
Rachel McAdams also spoke about the women in film we lost over the past year, particularly fellow Canadian Catherine O’Hara, whom she called “a comedic genius,” and her former costar, Diane Keaton, who she said is “a legend with no end.
Oscars 2026 (REUTERS/Mike Blake)
Best Live Action Short tie
In a rare tie at the Oscars, the Best Live Action Short went to The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva, with the teams behind each film having their own moment on stage to accept their awards. But in another odd situation, when filmmaker Alexandre Singh from Two People Exchanging Saliva began speaking, the microphone started retracting, prompting host O’Brien to laugh on the side of the stage.
This is the seventh tie in Oscars history, the first in 1932 for Best Actor, when both Wallace Beery (The Champ) and Fredric March (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) won. The last time it happened was in 2012, when Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty both won for sound editing.
US television host Jimmy Kimmel presents the award for Best Documentary Short Film onstage during the 98th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 15, 2026. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)
(PATRICK T. FALLON via Getty Images)Award winners and presenters have messages for world leaders
Throughout the night, a number of celebrities who took the stage had strong statements and jabs for world leaders, with some references to U.S. President Donald Trump.
Jimmy Kimmel was a presenter at the Oscars, and before presenting the award for Best Documentary Short Film, he spoke about courage, saying, “Telling a story that could get you killed for telling it is real courage.”
“As you know, there are some countries whose leaders don’t support free speech. I’m not at liberty to say which,” Kimmel said. “Let’s just leave it at North Korea and CBS.”
The award went to the film All The Empty Rooms, a film about school shootings, with the mother of a nine-year-old girl, Jacklyn “Jackie” Cazares, who was killed in 2022 shooting in Uvalde on the stage.
“Since that day, her bedroom has been frozen in time,” she said, adding that gun violence is now the number one cause of death in kids and teens.
“We believe that if the world could see their empty bedrooms, we’d be a different America.”
Kimmel also presented the award for Best Documentary Feature Film. The late-night host, whose public feud with Trump got his show suspended for part of last year, mocked Trump suggesting he would be livid that his wife’s documentary, Melania, was not nominated for an Oscar.
The award ultimately went to Mr Nobody Against Putin, with director, David Borenstein, saying that the film is about “how you lose your country.”
“You lose it through countless small little acts of complicity. When we act complicit when a government murders people on the streets of our major cities, when we don’t say anything when oligarchs take over the media and control how we can produce it and consume it,” Borenstein said. “Even a nobody is more important than you think.”
Danish-Norwegian film director and writer Joachim Trier accepts the award for Best International Feature Film for “Sentimental Value” onstage during the 98th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 15, 2026. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)
(PATRICK T. FALLON via Getty Images)
When Joachim Trier won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film for Sentimental Value, he paraphrased the words of James Baldwin and said, “All adults are responsible for all children, and let’s not vote for politicians who don’t take this seriously into account.”
Indian actress Priyanka Chopra and Spanish actor Javier Bardem present the award for Best International Feature Film onstage during the 98th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 15, 2026. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)
(PATRICK T. FALLON via Getty Images)
And before Javier Bardem presented the award for Best International Feature Film, with Priyanka Chopra Jonas, he said, “No to war, and Free Palestine.”
‘Bridesmaids’ 15th anniversary reunion
The Bridesmaids cast, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne and Ellie Kemper, presented the award for Best Original Score, but first had a fun moment where they read fake messages they received from stars in the audience.
“First of all, you ladies look extremely beautiful tonight,” Rudolph read. “You’re all aging well. Signed Stellan Skarsgård.”
“Rose, can you please stop looking at me. The eye contact is too much,” Byrne read, coming from Leonardo DiCaprio.
“Hi, I’m with Stellan Skarsgård. … The things you’ve done to your faces are very tasteful. Yours truly, Elle Fanning. … Just kidding, it’s me again Stellan Skarsgård,” McCarthy said.
“You guys have been talking for a long time. This bit could have been a lot shorter,” Wig read from Benicio del Toro.
And finally, Kemper had a message from the young Hamnet star Jacobi Jupe, “I’m tired, and I want to go home,” and also mentioned that there’s no pizza at the event.
See the full list of Oscar winners here