Oscars 2026: Michael B. Jordan and Jessie Buckley win acting honours

Michael B. Jordan and Jessie Buckley bagged the acting honours at the 98^th Academy Awards. Jordan won it for his performance in Ryan Coogler’s Sinners while Buckley took the Oscar home for her performance in Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet.

Read | Oscars 2026: Winners, surprises and full results from the 98th Academy Awards

This was Jordan’s first Oscar, who beat Timothée Chalamet (The Marty Supreme), Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another) and Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon). Jordan plays a double role in Sinners of the twin brothers, Smoke and Stack, who leave their troubled lives behind and return to their Mississippi hometown.

Coming on stage to accept the award, an overwhelmed Jordan said, “God is good. God is good.” He then spoke of his collaboration with Coogler, with whom he has worked five times. “I am so honoured to to call you a collaborator and a friend. You gave an opportunity and space for me to be seen. I love you too, bro,” he said.

The actor also gave a shout-out to other Black actors who have won in the category in the past, including, Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker and Will Smith. “I stand here because of the people that came before me. To be amongst those giants, those greats, amongst my ancestors, amongst my guys…”

He added, “Thank you everybody in this room and everybody at home for supporting me over my career. I feel it. I know you guys want 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.”

On the other hand, it was Buckley’s first Oscar win as well as she triumphed over Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You), Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue) and Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value). She also became the first Irish actress to win the award.

In her acceptance speech, Buckley thanked her nominees and said, “I am inspired by your art and your heart, and I want to work with every single one of you.” She also thanked her partner, Fred, as she added, “I love you, man. I love you. You’re the most incredible dad. You’re my best friend and I want to have 20,000 more babies with you.”

She concluded the speech saying, “It’s Mother’s Day in the UK 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 continued to create against all odds. Thank you for recognising me in this role. This is the greatest honour. I can’t even believe it.”