Jessie Buckley wins best actress at 2026 Baftas – The Irish Times

Jessie Buckley‘s triumphant run via Oscar season has continued with a best actress win at the EE British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) awards on Sunday evening. This comes simply two days after she took the equal Irish Film and Television Academy award in Dublin. It is the primary time an Irish performer has gained the best actress prize at Bafta.

Buckley, nominated for taking part in a wracked Agnes Shakespeare in Chloe Zhao‘s Hamnet, delivered a characteristically heat acceptance speech at the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank.

“This is nuts,” she mentioned, luminous in blue, after receiving the award from compatriot Cillian Murphy (a canny transfer by Bafta). “This really does belong to the women past, present and future who taught me and continue to teach me how to do it differently.”

Buckley has been managing awards season with notable commitments.

“I share this with my daughter, who has been with me since she was six weeks old on the road with this,” she mentioned. “It’s the best role of my life being your mum and I promise to continue to be disobedient so you can belong to a world in all your complete wildness as a young woman.”

Paul Mescalnominated for taking part in William Shakespeare in Hamnet, misplaced out in best supporting actor to an absent Sean Penn, sinister as a messianic despot in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. Stellan Skarsgård had seemed the favourite in that class, however Penn’s win opens the corresponding Oscar race up significantly.

There was, nonetheless, not stopping Richard Baneham taking a second Bafta in particular visible results. Triumphing for Avatar: Fire and Ash, the Tallaght man is now among the many most revered professionals in his subject.

“I have to say go raibh maith agat to Jim Cameron, our visionary director,” he mentioned from the rostrum. “We have to thank the crew in our stage and lab in New Zealand and in LA.”

Element Pictures, the Oscar-winning Dublin-based manufacturing firm, are proud co-producers of Akinola Davies jnr’s My Father’s Shadow, winner of excellent debut by a British author, director or producer. Akinola Davies jnr shares that prize along with his co-writer Wale Davies.

The greatest shock of the night was certainly Robert Aramayo, younger star of Kirk Jones’s drama I Swear, beating the likes of Timothée Chalamet and Leonardo DiCaprio for the best actor prize.

Telling the story of John Davidson, a brave Scottish campaigner for these with Tourette syndrome, the movie was a big hit within the UK and Ireland, however has barely registered with awards our bodies elsewhere. The Yorkshireman, who additionally gained rising star, appeared surprised by the prize.

Hamnet managed to win best British movie, however, regardless of residence benefit, he couldn’t get previous One Battle After Another in total best movie. That sprawling political thriller took six Baftas, additionally together with best director and best tailored screenplay.

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, an ingenious vampire flick, triumphed in three classes: authentic screenplay, authentic rating and, for British performer Wunmi Mosaku, best supporting actress. Anderson’s movie now seems a wholesome favourite for best image at the Oscars with Sinners subsequent in its wake.

Mosaku’s victory over Carey Mulligan and Teyanna Taylor counted as a minor upset. Might She now be edging upfront of Taylor, up for One Battle After Another, within the race for the Oscar? “Thank you Bafta for this incredible honor,” Mosaku mentioned from the rostrum. “To my daughter, you are my greatest teacher. I am so proud of you, everything begins and ends with you.”

Alan Cumming, taking up as host from his fellow Scot David Tennant, stored the banter tart and witty. “We’re here this evening to celebrate creativity, the very best of film in all its glory,” he mentioned from the stage. “This is the time when we celebrate you, the people in this room, when we bring you all together, unite you under one roof, then divide you into categories and make you fight each other for prizes.”

The ceremony marked the primary time Britain’s Prince William, president of Bafta, and Princess Kate, have made a joint public look because the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the prince’s uncle.

Next Saturday, Buckley’s competes at the Actor Awards (previously the Screen Actors Guild Awards) after which strikes on to the Oscars on March fifteenth in Hollywood. Few performers this century have been such an unbackable favourite for an Academy Award. Should Buckley win, she’s going to develop into the primary Irishwoman ever to know that prize.

Bafta movie awards 2026: Full listing of winners

best movie

One Battle After Another

Outstanding British movie

Hamnet

Outstanding debut by a British author, director or producer

My Father’s Shadow – Akinola Davies Jr (director), Wale Davies (author)

Best movie not within the English language

Sentimental Value

Best documentary

Mr Nobody Against Putin

Best animated movie

Zootropolis 2

Best youngsters’s and household movie

boong

best director

One Battle After Another – Paul Thomas Anderson

Best authentic screenplay

Sinners – Ryan Coogler

Best tailored screenplay

One Battle After Another – Paul Thomas Anderson

Best main actress

Jessie Buckley – Hamnet

Best main actor

Robert Aramayo – I Swear

Best supporting actress

Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners

Best supporting actor

Sean Penn – One Battle After Another

best casting

I Swear

Best cinematography

One Battle After Another

Best enhancing

One Battle After Another

Best costume design

Frankenstein

Best make up & hair

Frankenstein

Best authentic rating

Sinners

Best manufacturing design

Frankenstein

best sound

F1

Best particular visible results

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Best British quick animation

Two Black Boys in Paradise

Best British quick movie

This Is Endometriosis

EE Rising Star award (voted for by the general public)

Robert Aramayo