If all the world’s a stage, these are its biggest players.
The nominations for the 2026 Academy Awards were announced Jan. 22 by actors Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman, and with them come the actors and movies deemed to have delivered the best performances and films throughout 2025. (See all the nominations here.)
Heading into nomination day, films Hamnet, One Battle After Another, Sinners, Marty Supreme and The Secret Agent were all expected to be among the top contenders, especially after having successful showings at the Critics Choice Awards and Golden Globes.
And indeed, the above were all nominated for Best Picture (with Brazil’s The Secret Agent also nominated for Best International Feature), as were films Bugonia, F1, Frankenstein, Sentimental Value and Train Dreams.
Among them, stars Michael B. Jordan, Timothée Chalamet, Jessie Buckley, Leonardo DiCaprio, Wagner Moura, Elle Fanning, Wunmi Mosaku and Jacob Elordi were considered the shoe-ins for acting nods—and indeed, they each earned either supporting or lead actor nominations.
