Every Historic Win At The Oscars 2026

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Published Mar 16, 2026, 8:01 PM EDT

Ross is a writer for screenrant. He always stays up to date on the latest movies, whether it's blockbusters or independent dramas. When not watching movies, he can be found at the beach or traveling to amusement parks to ride the best rollercoasters. He is a fan of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, Game of Thrones, and anything Disney.

The 2026 Oscar winners have been announced, and the ceremony included a few historic wins. The Academy Awards took place this past Sunday, concluding what was an eventful awards season. Several contentious categories finally revealed their winners after many weeks of speculation regarding who would win.

Michael B. Jordan took home the prize for Best Actor for his dual role in Sinners, and Amy Madigan won Best Supporting Actress for her villainous role as Aunt Gladys in Weapons. Sean Penn won Best Supporting Actor for his challenging performance in One Battle After Another, which won the night's top prize for Best Picture.

This year's Oscar winners delivered incredible work in filmmaking and performances, and some of the recipients marked notable firsts in the award ceremony's history. Here is every historic win at the 2026 Oscars.

Cassandra Kulukundis Becomes The First Winner In The Achievement In Casting Category

Leonardo DiCaprio as Bob & Benicio del Toro as Sensei in One Battle After Another

The 2026 Academy Awards introduced a new category for Achievement in Casting, celebrating the casting directors who bring together the excellent casts for a film. The nominees for the category's first year were Cassandra Kulukundis for One Battle After Another, Nina Gold for Hamnet, Jennifer Venditti for Marty Supreme, Gabriel Domingues for The Secret Agent, and Francine Maisler for Sinners.

Kulukundis was announced as the winner, becoming the first ever winner in this category. She has been a frequent collaborator with director Paul Thomas Anderson, working on several of his other films, including Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, The Master, and Licorice Pizza.

It's a well-deserved award, given that four of the cast members from One Battle After Another were nominated for Academy Awards, including Penn, who won. Other Academy Award-winning films she's worked on include The Brutalist and Her.

Jessie Buckley was the first-ever Irish actor to win Best Actress

Jessie Buckley looking up in awe surrounded by people in Hamnet

Going into the Oscars, Jessie Buckley's win for Best Actress for her role as Agnes in Hamnet was essentially guaranteed. She had won at the other major awards shows, including the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs, the Critics Choice awards, and the Actor Awards, and was the clear favorite to win when the Oscars started.

She was outstanding in Hamnet, and her Oscar win marks the end of her wildly successful awards season. She also made Oscar history with her win as she became the first Irish actor to win Best Actress. Other Irish women who had been nominated in this category include Saoirse Ronan and Ruth Negga.

Buckley's win also comes after Cillian Murphy became the first Irish-born actor to win Best Actor for his performance in Oppenheimer. Daniel Day-Lewis, who has won Best Actor three times, does hold an Irish citizenship, but he was born in England.

Golden Became The First K-Pop Song To Win Best Original Song

The fictional girl group HUNTR/X in KPop Demon Hunters.

KPop Demon Hunters was a massive hit in both the film and music industries. It featured beautiful animation and an engaging story, but captured many audiences with its catchy soundtrack, which included "Golden." "Golden" was arguably the biggest song of 2025, hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for several weeks.

The song won the 2026 Oscar for Best Original Song. While this win wasn't surprising, "I Lied to You" from Sinners could have pulled off an upset. The singing voices of HUNTR/X, the fictional band from the film, also performed the song live during the show. With KPop Demon Hunters 2 on the way, this franchise could see more Oscar gold in its future.

Norway Won Its First Best International Feature Film Oscar For Sentimental Value

Stellan Skarsgard and Renate Reinsve have an awkward conversation by the bushes in Sentimental Value

Sentimental Value had a strong presence in the 2026 Academy Award nominations. It was nominated for nine Oscars, including Best Picture, Best International Feature Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Actress, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actress, which it earned two nominations in for Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas.

The film won Best International Feature Film, earning Norway its first win in this category. It won over France's It Was Just an Accident, Tunisia's The Voice of Hind Rajab, Spain's Sirat, and Brazil's The Secret Agent, which was also a Best Picture nominee. It was director Joachim Trier's second nomination in this category after The Worst Person in the World.

Autumn Durald Arkapaw Was The First woman To Win Best Cinematography

Michael B Jordan as the Smoke with Miles Caton as Samuel Sammie in Sinners

Sinners had a record-breaking 16 nominations at this year's Oscars, and ended up taking home the Oscar for several of them, including Best Original Screenplay, Best Score, and Best Actor. It also won Best Cinematography, which went to Autumn Durald Arkapaw, who made history with her win.

Arkapaw became the first woman and the first black person to win in this category. According to The Guardian, "she is only the fourth woman nominated for the award, and the first woman of color." Arkapaw previously worked with director Ryan Coogler on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Her win came in a strong category that also included One Battle After Another, Train Dreams, Marty Supreme, and Frankenstein. While One Battle After Another took home the Oscar for Best Picture, Sinners still had a great night, and Arkapaw's win was an impactful moment.