Oscars 2026: Highlights You May Have Overlooked – Bridesmaids, Baby Yoda, and Ballet

One Battle After Another led the night, taking six Oscars, including best picture, best director and best supporting actor.

Sinners followed in second place, with four wins, then Frankenstein with three, but of course, the Oscars are about more than just numbers.

Here are our stand-out moments for 2026.

Timmy, Leo and Ted get roasted

Second-time host Conan O’Brien did not hold back in his opening monologue.

Taking a swipe at Timothee Chalamet‘s recent comment that “nobody cares” about opera and ballet, he joked: “I should tell you, security is tight tonight, I’m told there are concerns about attacks from both the opera and ballet communities.”

O’Brien added, “They’re just mad you left out jazz”.

A close-up of the audience showed a laughing Chalamet, sitting next to his girlfriend, Kylie Jenner, who was wearing a sparkling red gown with a plunging neckline.

Leonardo DiCaprio got similar treatment, as O’Brien took a moment to restock the actor’s already plentiful supply of memes, asking him to portray “The feeling when you didn’t agree to this”.

A bemused DiCaprio gestured with his hands as he looked to the camera. Cutting away, O’Brien said: “We’ll sort it in the edit”.

The streamers came in for some harsh words, too.

Zoning in on Netflix boss Ted Sarandos, who nearly bought Warner Bros earlier this year, O’Brien joked: “It’s the first time he’s in a theatre”.

He added that Sarandos was thinking, “What are they all doing, enjoying themselves? They should be home where I can monetise it!”

O’Brien also lamented the lack of nominees for Amazon MGM: “Why isn’t the website I order toilet paper from winning more Oscars?”

A real Hollywood power couple

While Chalamet and Jenner have been together for around three years – which some would say is a long time in Hollywood – the real props have to go to Hollywood power couple Amy Madigan and Ed Harris.

Exactly 40 years after she was nominated for her first Oscar for the 1985 film Twice In A Lifetime, Madigan finally won her first Oscar, bagging best supporting actress for her stellar turn as creepy Aunt Gladys in Weapons.

It’s the record for the longest time between first nomination and first win.

The 75-year-old star, who admitted to being “flummoxed” and “overwhelmed”, paid tribute to her husband of over 40 years.

She said of all her thanks: “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.”

All about the music (and the ballet)

The ceremony featured two live performances from two of the biggest movies of the night.

First, an atmospheric rendition of I Lied To You, led by Sinners star Miles Caton, with musicians and actors filling both the stage and auditorium, mirroring the iconic scene from the film.

Ballerina Misty Copeland – who has recently been in the headlines countering Chalamet’s remarks about ballet and opera – was featured in the song’s finale, twirling across the stage in red, and very much proving the point that ballet is far from dead.

The second song of the night was Golden, from Netflix mega hit KPop Demon Hunters.

Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami performed in white, flanked by a stage full of dancers with golden flags.

Meanwhile, the audience waved small lamp-like lights in the darkened auditorium, with close-ups on stars including director Steven Spielberg and One Battle star Teyana Taylor bopping away.

The movie went on to win best original song and best animated feature film, but despite its success, some fans felt the team behind the hit had been cheated after they had their speeches cut off not once but twice, with the play-off music abruptly ending both acceptance speeches.

In other musical news, Oscar’s music director Michael Bearden and his orchestra premiered the Timothee Chalamet “bum drum” – a bare mannequin bottom and two ping-pong paddles which were used several times throughout the night, referencing a scene in the film where Chalamet’s character, Marty Supreme, is spanked with a paddle.

It’s a tie!

The best live action short film provided some unexpected drama after the category was won by not one but two films – People Exchanging Saliva and The Singers.

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

There have been five other ties in Oscars history, making this tie the seventh.

“Thank you to the Academy for supporting a movie that is weird, that is queer, and made by a majority of women!” said Natalie Musteata of Two People Exchanging Saliva.

Director Sam A Davis of Singers called his short a “simple story about the power of music and art to bring us together in a moment when we live in an increasingly isolated world”.

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

Extended In Memoriam

Looking back on a year where the industry said goodbye to so many of its own, there was an extended In Memoriam section.

Billy Crystal opened the segment honouring his best friend, Rob Reiner, who was found dead with his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, in their home in December.

Their son, Nick Reiner, has been charged with the deaths of his parents and has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder.

A host of actors with longstanding ties to Reiner, including Meg Ryan, Kiefer Sutherland, Fred Savage, Demi Moore, John Cusack, and Ione Skye, appeared on the stage, with Crystal rounding off his tribute by saying, “Buddy, what fun we had storming the castle”.

Rachel McAdams paid tribute to Diane Keaton, the star of films including Annie Hall, who died in October.

McAdams said the actress “she wore so many hats literally and figuratively”, calling her “a legend with no end”.

An emotional Barbara Streisand sang The Way We Were, the title tune of the film she starred in with Robert Redford in 1973, paying tribute to the late actor-director who died in September, praising him as a man with “real backbone on and off the screen”.

Tribute was also paid to stars including British playwright Tom Stoppard, Superman star Terrance Stamp and Home Alone actress Catherine O’Hara.

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Politics makes its way in

Host O’Brien alluded to the “chaotic and frightening times” at the top of the show, while celebrating “optimism” and the “hope of better”.

Spanish actor Javier Bardem, who was presenting the award for best international film, said as soon as he reached the microphone: “No to war and free Palestine.”

Accepting the award, Sentimental Value director Joachim Trier quoted James Baldwin, saying: “All adults are responsible for all children,” he said. “Let’s not vote for politicians that don’t take this seriously into account.”

Director Paul Thomas Anderson referenced “the mess that we left in this world”.

While presenter Jimmy Kimmel, who was briefly taken off-air last year, said, “There are some countries that don’t support free speech,” said Kimmel. “I’m not at liberty to say which. Let’s just leave it at North Korea and CBS.”

Announcing the winners of documentary short and documentary feature, Kimmel also appeared to make a dig at the US president, whose wife, Melania’s own documentary was recently released, saying, “Oh man, is he gonna be mad his wife wasn’t nominated for this”.

History is made – twice

Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman to win best cinematographer, for her role on Ryan Coogler’s vampire horror Sinners.

Arkapaw, who was the first woman of colour to be nominated in the category, asked all the women in the Dolby Theatre to stand, saying, “I feel like I don’t get to be here without you guys… I have gotten so much love from women throughout this whole campaign, and things like this don’t happen without you guys”.

Meanwhile, Jessie Buckley made history as the first Irish woman to win best actress, for her role as William Shakespeare’s wife Agnes in Hamlet.

Giving an emotional speech, Buckley dedicated her prize to “the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart”, revealing the name of her eight-month-old daughter, Isla, who she said was probably asleep and unaware and “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”.

All in all, a triumph on what Mother’s Day is here in the UK.

For all those who came before

In possibly the most closely fought race of the night, a visibly stunned Michael B Jordan took best actor for his dual role in Sinners.

Accepting his award, Jordan thanked his family for their support, saying, “God is good, and Mamma, what’s up? Pop where you at? My dad flew over from Ghana to be here, and my sisters and my brothers”.

He went on to say: “I stand here because of the people that came before me – Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, Will Smith”.

Jordan is the sixth black man to win the best actor trophy.

He added, “I know you guys wanted me to do well, and I want to do that because you guys bet on me, so thank you for keeping betting on me. I’m going to keep stepping up, and I’m going to keep being the best version of myself I can be.”

Bridesmaids, Baby Yoda, Anna Wintour and Lionel Richie

There were plenty of unexpected presenter appearances to keep the audience on their toes.

Bridesmaids stars Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Ellie Kemper reunited after 15 years to present best score and best original sound.

Lionel Richie was back on the Oscar stage 40 years after winning an Oscar for Say You, Say Me, to present best song.

Former Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour proved her comedy chops, teaming up with Devil Wears Prada star Anne Hathaway to present best costume, ignoring Hathaway’s question about her dress and later calling her “Emily”.

And in perhaps the most unexpected appearance of the night, when Alien star Sigourney Weaver presented best production design alongside Pedro Pascal, Baby Yoda rocked up in the audience, sat next to Kate Hudson.

Giving Weaver the chance to reenact her famous line, “Get away from him, you bitch”, the 76-year-old followed it up by pointing to Hudson and signalling, “I’m watching you”.

Later in the evening, O’Brien castigated Baby Yoda for not being able to clap, urging, “Try to clap Grogu, try”, before adding, “What a cruel thing to do, to bring a creature who can’t clap to an award show”, as the camera zoomed in on the furry little fellow unable to reach his tiny hands together.

Cheeky Gwyneth!

And while Gwyneth Paltrow was not up for an award, she didn’t disappoint in the fashion department.

Paltrow was part of the team presenting the first-ever best casting award.

From the front, her elegant Georgio Armani gown looked tame – almost bridal – but a side glance of the ivory silk dress revealed fully cutout sides.

Although Paltrow wore sparkly, nude tulle trousers underneath, the resulting look revealed plenty of skin, earning plenty of second looks on the red carpet, 27 years on from her best actress win.