One Battle After Another sweeps Oscars as Jessie Buckley triumphs

By Laura Harding, Deputy Entertainment Editor

One Battle After Another was crowned best picture at the Oscars, where Jessie Buckley completed her clean sweep as best actress.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s saga about political revolutionaries won six gongs at the ceremony, including best director, best adapted screenplay, and best supporting actor for Sean Penn.

Michael B Jordan was named best actor for his dual role as twins in Sinners and paid tribute to past black Oscar winners as he collected his trophy.

Irish star Buckley, who won the best actress prize for her performance as William Shakespeare’s wife Agnes Hathaway – historically known as Anne – in Hamnet, dedicated her prize to “the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart” in an emotional speech.

She also revealed the name of her eight-month-old daughter for the first time, saying her little girl, Isla, was probably asleep and unaware, “dreaming of milk”.

She told her husband Freddie Sorensen: “I want to have 20,000 more babies with you,” and thanked director Chloe Zhao and writer Maggie O’Farrell for “letting me know this incandescent woman and journey to understand the capacity of a mother’s love”.

She added: “It’s Mother’s Day in the today, so 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 – thank you for recognising me in this role,” she added.

Jordan won the best actor prize for his performance in Ryan Coogler’s vampire film Sinners, which won four Oscars, including best original screenplay and best score.

He said: “I stand here because of the people that came before me,” and namechecked Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whittaker and Will Smith.”

Earlier in the ceremony, Penn won a third Oscar, but was not present at the ceremony to collect his prize.

He won the best supporting actor gong for his turn as racist military man Colonel Lockjaw in One Battle After Another.

He defeated his co-star Benicio del Toro, Sinners star Delroy Lindo, Sentimental Value’s Stellan Skarsgard, and Frankenstein’s Jacob Elordi, but was not at the event in Los Angeles to receive the accolade.

Penn has previously won Oscars for his performances in Mystic River and Milk.

Kieran Culkin, who won the category last year for A Real Pain, announced Penn’s victory and said: “Sean Penn couldn’t be here tonight, or didn’t want to, so I will take this for him.”

Penn was also absent from the Baftas and the Actor Awards, where he was also triumphant. He did attend the Golden Globes, where he was defeated by Skarsgard in the category.

Amy Madigan won the first Oscar of the 2026 ceremony and paid tribute to her husband Ed Harris as she collected her gong.

The Field Of Dreams star collected the best supporting actress prize for her terrifying turn as Aunt Gladys in the horror film Weapons.

Referring to her husband of more than 40 years, she said: “The most important is my beloved Ed, who’s been with me forever, and that’s a long-ass time, and none of this would mean anything if he wasn’t by my side.

She said: “Thank you, I’m very overwhelmed.”

There was a dramatic moment when there was a tie in the live action short category, which was won by both Two People Exchanging Saliva and The Singers.

After the winners left the stage, host Conan O’Brien congratulated them and said: “You just ruined 22 million Oscar pools.”

It is the first time since 2013 there have been tied winners, when Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty shared the sound editing award.

The ceremony was hosted for the second year in a row by comedian O’Brien, who opened the ceremony with an extended sketch dressed as Aunt Gladys, getting chased by children through scenes from the films nominated for best picture.

Dressed in a red wig with heavy white make up, like the antagonist from the film, he could be seen playing table tennis with Timothee Chalamet in Marty Supreme, running across the stage of the Globe in Hamnet, in the car with del Toro in One Battle After Another and trying to get into the juke joint in Sinners.

O’Brien also acknowledged that these are “chaotic, frightening times”, adding: “It’s at moments like these that I believe the Oscars are particularly resonant.”

Referring to the number of countries and continents represented, he said the nominated films are “the product of thousands of people speaking different languages working hard to produce something of beauty”.

He added they show “global artistry, collaboration, patience, resilience, and that rarest of qualities, optimism.”

Box office hit KPop Demon Hunters won the best animated film prize and best original song for Golden, while Frankenstein won the Oscars for best costume design, production design, and makeup and hair styling.