Michael B. Jordan wins Oscar's Best Actor at Academy Awards 2026

It was an upset for Timothée Chalamet, as Michael B. Jordan emerged as Best Actor at the 2026 Academy Awards held on 16 March (MYT).

The “Sinners” star was stunned when his name was announced by presenter Adrien Brody, who won last year, and thanked director Ryan Coogler in his speech, with whom he has worked on the movie as well as several other films, including “Black Panther.”

“I’m so honored to call you a collaborator and a friend,” he said. “You gave me the opportunity and space for me to be seen, and I love you to death.”

He also mentioned several African American icons who won before him, including Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington and Will Smith, adding, “To be amongst those giants, amongst those giants, amongst those greats, amongst my ancestors, amongst my guys.” Thank you to everybody in this room and everybody at home for supporting me over my career. I feel it.”

Prior to the awards, Chalamet seemed to have been poised to win the Best Actor accolade for “Marty Supreme,” after a string of wins throughout the awards season.

However, the actor recently went viral and received backlash for his comments during a Variety/CNN town hall with Matthew McConaughey when talking about preserving cinema. The actor expressed, “I don’t want to be working in ballet, or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though, like, no one cares about this anymore.'”