Yes, You Can ‘Tie’ at the Oscars — Two Films Just Did

This year’s live action short competition just taught much of the movie-loving world that, yes, there can be a tie at the Oscars. On Sunday at the Dolby, the 98th Academy Awards honored not one but two films, Sam A. Davis’ “The Singers” and Natalie Musteata and Alexandre Singh’s “Two People Exchanging Saliva,” with Best Live Action Short. That’s the seventh time that’s happened in the ceremony’s history.

“That was incredible,” said “The Singers” producer Jack Piatt, when asked about the tie backstage. “We’ve got to know all the other filmmakers in our category, so that was really special. I wish there could be a five-way tie, to be honest with you.”

“All the films are fantastic, truly,” agreed Davis. “But I told [Alexandre and Natalie], in confidence, that if we lost, I hope we lost to them, because, you know, I saw how incredible their film was.”

“Someone on Reddit asked us if we’d be happy to share the award, and we said, ‘Heck yeah!'” said Musteata, also backstage.

“We’re Oscars geeks, so we had to discuss that this could happen,” agreed Singh. “But we didn’t imagine.”

While the moment may have surprised viewers and even the winners, ties are a fully legitimate outcome at the Oscars. If two nominees receive the exact same number of ballots in the final round of voting, both are declared winners and given their own statuettes. There is no runoff vote or tiebreaking procedure. 

The most famous tie occurred at the 41st Academy Awards in 1969, when Barbra Streisand and Katharine Hepburn were both named Best Actress. Streisand won for her debut in “Funny Girl” while Hepburn was honored for her part in “The Lion in Winter.” The actresses received exactly 3,030 votes each: a statistical coincidence that remains one of the most iconic in Oscars history. (Hepburn, who avoided the ceremony throughout her career, was not present to accept.)

Other ties have surfaced sporadically across the decades. In 1987, the Best Documentary Feature prize was shared by “Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got” and “Down and Out in America.” Most recently, the 2012 ceremony produced a split decision in Best Sound Editing that went to the teams behind “Skyfall” and “Zero Dark Thirty.”

Because Oscar winners are determined by thousands of votes, the statistical odds of an exact tie are extremely small. The very first tie at the 5th Academy Awards was not an exact tie, but saw Best Actor awarded to both Fredric March for “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and Wallace Beery for “The Champ” based on a narrow margin of just one vote — in March’s favor. 

The rules have since been changed, and now only exact ties are allowed. This is the second time a tie has happened in the Best Live Action Short category. Read on for a complete list of films that have shared the Oscars’ rarest outcome with their fellow honorees. 

1931-1932: 5th Academy Awards — BEST ACTOR
Fredric March (“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”) and Wallace Beery (“The Champ”)

1949: 22nd Academy Awards — BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
“A Chance to Live” and “So Much for So Little”

1968: 41st Academy Awards — BEST ACTRESS
Katharine Hepburn (“The Lion in Winter”) and Barbra Streisand (“Funny Girl”)

1986: 59th Academy Awards — BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got” and “Down and Out in America”

1994: 67th Academy Awards — BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
“Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Trevor”

2012: 85th Academy Awards — BEST SOUND EDITING
“Skyfall” and “Zero Dark Thirty”

2026: 98th Academy Awards — BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
“The Singers” and “Two People Exchanging Saliva”