Jessie Buckley’s triumphant run through Oscar season has continued with a best actress win at the EE British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) awards on Sunday night. This comes just two days after she took the equivalent Irish Film and Television Academy award in Dublin. It is the first time an Irish performer has won the best actress prize at Bafta.
Buckley, nominated for playing a wracked Agnes Shakespeare in Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, delivered a characteristically warm acceptance speech at the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank.
“This is nuts,” she said, luminous in blue, after receiving the award from compatriot Cillian Murphy (a canny move by Bafta). “This really does belong to the women past, present and future who taught me and continue to teach me how to do it differently.”
Buckley has been managing awards season with notable commitments.
“I share this with my daughter, who has been with me since she was six weeks old on the road with this,” she said. “It’s the best role of my life being your mum and I promise to continue to be disobedient so you can belong to a world in all your complete wildness as a young woman.”
Paul Mescal, nominated for playing William Shakespeare in Hamnet, lost out in best supporting actor to an absent Sean Penn, sinister as a messianic despot in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. Stellan Skarsgård had looked the favourite in that category, but Penn’s win opens the corresponding Oscar race up considerably.
There was, however, no stopping Richard Baneham taking a second Bafta in special visual effects. Triumphing for Avatar: Fire and Ash, the Tallaght man is now among the most respected professionals in his field.
“I have to say go raibh maith agat to Jim Cameron, our visionary director,” he said from the podium. “We have to thank the crew in our stage and lab in New Zealand and in LA.”
Element Pictures, the Oscar-winning Dublin-based production company, are proud co-producers of Akinola Davies jnr’s My Father’s Shadow, winner of outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer. Akinola Davies jnr shares that prize with his co-writer Wale Davies.
The biggest shock of the evening was surely Robert Aramayo, young star of Kirk Jones’s drama I Swear, beating the likes of Timothée Chalamet and Leonardo DiCaprio to the best actor prize.
Telling the story of John Davidson, a courageous Scottish campaigner for those with Tourette syndrome, the film was a significant hit in the UK and Ireland, but has barely registered with awards bodies elsewhere. The Yorkshireman, who also won rising star, seemed stunned by the prize.
Hamnet managed to win best British film, but, despite home advantage, could not get past One Battle After Another in overall best film. That sprawling political thriller took six Baftas, also including best director and best adapted screenplay.
Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, an ingenious vampire flick, triumphed in three categories: original screenplay, original score and, for British performer Wunmi Mosaku, best supporting actress. Anderson’s film now looks a healthy favourite for best picture at the Oscars with Sinners next in its wake.
Mosaku’s victory over Carey Mulligan and Teyanna Taylor counted as a minor upset. Might She now be edging in advance of Taylor, up for One Battle After Another, in the race for the Oscar? “Thank you Bafta for this incredible honour,” Mosaku said from the podium. “To my daughter, you are my greatest teacher. I am so proud of you, everything begins and ends with you.”
Alan Cumming, taking over as host from his fellow Scot David Tennant, kept the banter tart and witty. “We’re here this evening to celebrate creativity, the very best of film in all its glory,” he said from the stage. “This is the time when we celebrate you, the people in this room, when we bring you all together, unite you under one roof, then divide you into categories and make you fight each other for prizes.”
The ceremony marked the first time Britain’s Prince William, president of Bafta, and Princess Kate, have made a joint public appearance since the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the prince’s uncle.
Next Saturday, Buckley’s competes at the Actor Awards (formerly the Screen Actors Guild Awards) and then moves on to the Oscars on March 15th in Hollywood. Few performers this century have been such an unbackable favourite for an Academy Award. Should Buckley win, she will become the first Irishwoman ever to grasp that prize.
Bafta film awards 2026: Full list of winners
Best film
One Battle After Another
Outstanding British film
Hamnet
Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer
My Father’s Shadow – Akinola Davies Jr (director), Wale Davies (writer)
Best film not in the English language
Sentimental Value
Best documentary
Mr Nobody Against Putin
Best animated film
Zootropolis 2
Best children’s and family film
Boong
Best director
One Battle After Another – Paul Thomas Anderson
Best original screenplay
Sinners – Ryan Coogler
Best adapted screenplay
One Battle After Another – Paul Thomas Anderson
Best leading actress
Jessie Buckley – Hamnet
Best leading actor
Robert Aramayo – I Swear
Best supporting actress
Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners
Best supporting actor
Sean Penn – One Battle After Another
Best casting
I Swear
Best cinematography
One Battle After Another
Best editing
One Battle After Another
Best costume design
Frankenstein
Best make up & hair
Frankenstein
Best original score
Sinners
Best production design
Frankenstein
Best sound
F1
Best special visual effects
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Best British short animation
Two Black Boys in Paradise
Best British short film
This Is Endometriosis
EE Rising Star award (voted for by the public)
Robert Aramayo