Oscars 2026 key moments: Australians miss out across all major categories
Rose Byrne was nominated in the Best Actress category for If I Had Legs I'd Kick You. (Reuters: Daniel Cole)
In short:
Rose Byrne and Jacob Elordi have missed out on Academy Awards.
Although Australians were nominated in five key categories at this year's Oscars, none secured a trophy.
Michael B Jordan received a standing ovation at the ceremony after winning for Sinners.
It is an honour to be nominated for an Oscar — but that is where it ends for the five Australians up for gongs at the 2026 ceremony.
Our Oscar hopefuls in the acting categories were Rose Byrne and Jacob Elordi, but both missed out.
Byrne was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role for If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, with Jessie Buckley taking home the Oscar for Hamnet.
Elordi was up for Best Supporting Actor for Frankenstein, but the award went to Sean Penn for One Battle After Another — with previous winner Penn notably absent from the ceremony.
Jacob Elordi on the red carpet. (Reuters: Daniel Cole)
Adelaide-born, Sydney-raised Fiona Crombie was up for Best Production Design for Hamnet but also missed out.
Guido Wolter, from Adelaide, was nominated in the Visual Effects category for Sinners, but Avatar: Fire and Ash won that one.
Nick Cave was nominated for Best Original Song for Train Dreams, but was unable to cause what would have been a massive upset if he had won.
That award went to Golden, by KPop Demon Hunters, the hot favourite to win the Oscar.
KPop Demon Hunters was a global smash hit. (Supplied: Netflix)
Golden, which was performed at the ceremony, was the first KPop song to win an Oscar.
KPop Demon Hunters also won Best Animated Feature Film.
The film's co-writer and co-director, Maggie Kang, gave a stirring speech accepting the award alongside producer Michelle LM Wong and co-director Chris Appelhans.
"For those of you who look like me, I'm so sorry that it took us so long to see us in a movie like this,"Kang said.
"But it is here, and that means that the next generations don't have to go longing.
"This is for Korea and for Koreans everywhere."
Intrusive music interrupted the speech, and this kept happening throughout the night.
Nicole Kidman handed out the Best Picture Oscar, won by One Battle After Another, which won six Oscars in total.
Michael B Jordan gets standing ovation
When Michael B Jordan won his first Academy Award for playing twin brothers Smoke and Stack in the vampire thriller Sinners, there were a lot of excited people in the room.
Michael B Jordan with his Best Actor Academy Award for Sinners. ( Reuters: Mario Anzuoni)
Jordan won the Best Actor Oscar and received a standing ovation.
"God is good," Jordan began his speech.
"Yo, mama, what's up?"
"My dad flew in from Ghana to be here."
Jordan thanked director Ryan Coogler, as well as the rest of the cast and crew. He then turned his attention to other Black actors who have won Academy Awards.
"I stand here because of the people who came before me,"Jordan said.
"Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Jamie Foxx, Will Smith and Halle Berry.
"Thank you for [keeping] betting on me. And I'mma keep stepping up."
Jordan also thanked those who went and saw the film.
Sinners was the most nominated film in Oscars history. It was up for 16 awards, with the film, which is set in the 1930s, winning four of those awards.
Coogler thanked his wife and mentioned his babies and the time he spends away from them in a sweet speech when he won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Conan O'Brien wins at hosting gig
The 98th Academy Awards began with a skit in which host Conan O'Brien, in full Weapons-inspired make-up, was seen running away from a bunch of kids, Weapons-style.
Conan O'Brien hosted the 98th Academy Awards in Los Angeles. (Reuters: Mike Blake)
It was a strong start ahead of a solid monologue from O'Brien, who also hosted the Oscars last year.
"I'm Conan O'Brien, and I'm honoured to be the last human host of the Academy Awards," he said.
O'Brien had a dig at the state the world is in, saying, last year there were fires in LA, but this year everything is "fine".
O'Brien, who stars alongside Byrne as a therapist in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, couldn't resist teasing his cast mate.
"It's hard to act in a scene with someone you've always had an enormous crush on," O'Brien said.
"But Rose, you did a good job."
He kept on landing those zingers, pointing to Timothée Chalamet's controversial comments about ballet and opera, saying: "They're just mad you left out jazz."
He circled back to these "very chaotic, frightening times" by saying there were 31 countries across six continents represented at the Oscars.
"Every film we salute is the product of thousands of people speaking different languages, working hard to make something of beauty,"he said.
"We pay tribute tonight, not just to film, but to the ideals of global artistry, collaboration, patience, resilience and that rarest of qualities today — optimism."
O'Brien presented himself with a fake Oscar, but there was no need. He won when it came to hosting duties, no trophy necessary.
Learning their lessons, perhaps, from Will Smith's brain snap at the 94th Academy Awards, swear words were censored throughout the broadcast.
First-ever Oscar for casting
Presented by Paul Mescal (Hamnet), Gwyneth Paltrow (Marty Supreme), Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another), Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent), and Delroy Lindo (Sinners), the first-ever Academy Award for casting was handed out at the 2026 awards ceremony.
That one went to Cassandra Kulukundis for One Battle After Another.
Paying tribute to those we lost
Billy Crystal led tributes in the in-memoriam segment in a moving tribute to Rob Reiner and his classic films.
Fellow Canadian Rachel McAdams paid tribute to Catherine O'Hara.
Diane Keaton was remembered as an icon.
Barbra Streisand paid tribute to Robert Redford, who she said referred to her as Babs.
Giorgio Armani, composer Alan Bergman, Val Kilmer, and Robert Duvall were just some of the other big names honoured.
Notable omissions included Brigitte Bardot, James Van Der Beek and Eric Dane.
A tie, which is unusual
There have been seven ties in the history of the Academy Awards, including this year.
Best Short Film (Live Action) went to both The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva.
The last time there was a tie was in 2013, when Best Sound Editing went to both Paul N J. Ottosson for Zero Dark Thirty and Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers for Skyfall.