Oscars 2026: who were the winners from the UK and Ireland?

Talents and backers from the UK and Ireland were among those celebrating after the 98th Academy Awards.

As widely predicted, Ireland’s Jessie Buckley won the lead actress Oscar for Hamnet, to become the first-ever Irish winner in the category. Hamnet was produced out of the UK by Liza Marshall’s Hera Pictures and Pippa Harris and Sam Mendes’ Neal Street Productions and shot in Wales and Herefordshire.

London-born British-American filmmaker Adam Somner, who died in November 2024, was one of the three producers of the evening’s big winner, One Battle After Another, which took the best picture Oscar and five other awards.

During his acceptance speech for the directing Oscar, the film’s writer-director-producer Paul Thomas Anderson said Somner was “up in a really big bar up in the sky right now, and he’s having a gin and tonic, and he’s so happy for me and our crew.”

BBC Film was one of the backers of international film Oscar winner Sentimental Value, having pre-bought UK TV rights to the European co-production.

Below-the-line talents were particularly well represented in the Academy’s craft categories.

Ireland’s Richard Baneham was among the team that won the visual effects Oscar for Avatar: Fire And Ash.

UK production sound mixer Gareth John was part of the team that earned the best sound Oscar for F1, which used UK locations including the Silverstone car racing circuit.

And UK-born Mike Hill was one of the named winners of the makeup and hairstyling Oscar for Frankenstein, which shot partly on locations in Scotland and England and at the UK’s Elstree Studios.

The Oscar ceremony itself employed UK actor-comedian-musician Matt Berry, who played an actor with a distinctive voice-over style in his Toast Of London and Toast Of Tinseltown series, as its announcer.