Jessie Buckley makes history as she becomes the first Irish woman to win Best Actress at the Oscars as she leads a record-breaking night for female winners

Jessie Buckley made history as she became the first Irish woman to win Best Actress at the Oscars.

The County Kerry-born actress, 36, lead a record-breaking night for female winners as she took home Best Actress for her work in Hamnet at the event held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.  

In tribute to her home country, Buckley ended her speech in Gaelic by saying 'Go raibh maith agaibh, slán,' which translates in English to 'Thank you very much, goodbye.'

Buckley beat out Rose Byrne - If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, Kate Hudson - Song Sung Blue, Renate Reinsve - Sentimental Value, and Emma Stone - Bugonia.

Hamnet takes place after Agnes and William Shakespeare (Buckley and Paul Mescal) lose their son Hamnet to the plague and grapple with grief in 16th-century England, based on the novel of the same name. Agnes is a healer who must find strength to care for her surviving children while processing her devastating loss. 

But Buckley wasn't the only woman to break records on Sunday night, with Autumn Durald Arkapaw making history as the first woman, and first black person, to win for Best Cinematography.

Autumn, who is of Filipino and African American Creole descent, triumphed in the category for the most-nominated film of the night, Sinners.

She beat out an otherwise all male category; Dan Laustsen for Frankenstein, Darius Khondji for Marty Supreme, Michael Bauman for One Battle After Another and Adolpho Veloso for Train Dreams.

Meanwhile Amy Madigan also made history as she took home the first award at the Oscars 2026 on Sunday night. 

The 75-year-old veteran actress earned Best Supporting Actress for her work in Zach Creggar's supernatural mystery horror film Weapons - making her the first woman to win in the category for a horror film in almost six decades.

It was one of the most contentious categories of the night as she was up against Elle Fanning - Sentimental Value, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas - Sentimental Value, Wunmi Mosaku - Sinners, and Teyana Taylor - One Battle After Another.

And in the new Casting category it was also a woman who took home the first ever prize, with Cassandra Kulukundis winning for One Battle After Another.

The most talked about moment of the night will surely be that Jordan earned the top honour Best Actor for his leading role in Ryan Coogler film Sinners. 

He upset favorite throughout award season 30-year-old Chalamet, who starred in Marty Supreme, as the field included: Leonardo DiCaprio - One Battle After Another, Ethan Hawke - Blue Moon, and Wagner Moura - The Secret Agent.

Jordan was in disbelief as he walked up to the stage and was greeted by last year's winner Adrien Brody.

Sinners is centered around two brothers who return to their hometown to start again only to discover that an even greater evil - in the form of vampires - is waiting to welcome them back. 

Jordan portrayed both brothers in the film: older and more serious twin Elijah 'Smoke' Moore in addition to younger and more cheerful sibling Elias 'Stack' Moore. 

One Battle After Another was the biggest winner of the evening as Paul Thomas Anderson earned both Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. 

Meanwhile, Sean Penn was not in attendance as he earned his third Oscar.

The 65-year-old A-lister's name was announced by Kieran Culkin for the Best Supporting Actor Award for his work in One Battle After Another but he was not in the building to accept.

Ryan Coogler finally earned his first win in the Best Original Screenplay category for his epic Sinners. 

One of the most touching wins of the night came when Autumn Durald Arkapaw won Best Cinematography for Sinners. 

The second award of the night was groundbreaking as KPop Demon Hunters earned Best Animated Feature Film.

The Netflix film triumphed over Arco, Elio, Little Amelie or the Character of Rain, and Zootopia 2.

Later on in the night the film made history once again as KPop Demon Hunters earned Best Original Song for the smash hit song Golden.

It beat out Dear Me - Diane Warren: Relentless, I Lied to You - Sinners, Sweet Dreams of Joy - Viva Verdi!, and Train Dreams - Train Dreams.

The Netflix film is centered around the members of a world-renowned KPop girl group who balance their lives in the spotlight with their secret identities as demon hunters.