The 98th Academy Awards ceremony, held on March 15 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, featured a significant showing for stage veterans. Hosted by Conan O’Brien, the 2026 telecast saw performers with Broadway, Off-Broadway and West End credits take home top honors. For a theatergoing audience, the night served as a reminder of the frequent crossover between the theater community and the film industry’s highest accolades.
Amy Madigan won Best Supporting Actress for her role in the horror-thriller “Weapons,” marking her first Academy Award win. Madigan, who was previously nominated for “Twice in a Lifetime,” has a long history on the New York stage, including her 1992 Broadway debut as Stella in “A Streetcar Named Desire.” A frequent collaborator with the Off-Broadway nonprofit the New Group, Madigan has appeared in several of that company’s productions alongside her husband, Tony Award nominee and Oscar nominee Ed Harris. Madigan earned a 1987 Theatre World Award and a Drama Desk nomination for her turn in “The Lucky Spot.” In securing her Oscar win, Madigan won over Teyana Taylor (“One Battle After Another”), Wunmi Mosaku (“Sinners”), Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (“Sentimental Value”) and Elle Fanning (“Sentimental Value”), the latter of whom was seen on Broadway in “Appropriate.”
Sean Penn received the Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in “One Battle After Another,” which was also named Best Picture. This victory marks Penn’s third Oscar following his previous Best Actor wins for “Mystic River” and “Milk.” Long before his film career took off, Penn established himself on Broadway with roles in 1981’s “Heartland” and 1983’s “Slab Boys.” In his Oscar category, Penn topped a field that included his “One Battle After Another” co-star Benicio del Toro, as well as Jacob Elordi (“Frankenstein”), Stellan Skarsgård (“Sentimental Value”) and Delroy Lindo (“Sinners”), the latter a Broadway alum and Tony nominee for his performance in the original 1988 production of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” (a play which will be revived starting later this month).
Jessie Buckley took home the Best Actress trophy for her leading turn in “Hamnet,” a film adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel centering on the life of William Shakespeare’s wife (played by Buckley); the source material was previously adapted into a stage play by Lolita Chakrabarti for the U.K.’s Royal Shakespeare Company. While Buckley has yet to make her Broadway debut, she is well-known to theater audiences as an Olivier Award winner for her performance as Sally Bowles in the recent London revival of “Cabaret.” “Hamnet” marked Buckley’s second Oscar nomination following her 2022 nod for “The Lost Daughter.” She won her Oscar over Rose Byrne (“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”), Kate Hudson (“Song Sung Blue”), Renate Reinsve (“Sentimental Value”) and Emma Stone (“Bugonia”). Byrne is scheduled to return to Broadway next month in a revival of Noël Coward’s “Fallen Angels,” while Stone is another notable alum of the role of Sally Bowles, having replaced in a prior Broadway production of “Cabaret” in 2014.
Also of note, the song “Golden” from animated feature “KPop Demon Hunters” won Best Original Song. The tune features music and lyric by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo and Teddy Park. Sonnenblick is a frequent collaborator of EGOT winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, having teamed up with them on movie musical “Spirited” and stage musical “Lyle, Lyle Crocodile.” He conceived “Midnight at the Never Get,” also writing book, music and lyrics for the musical; it will bow in London later this year in a production starring Tony winner Ben Platt.
Musical highlights from the Oscars ceremony included a tribute to the late Robert Redford by stage-and-screen legend Barbra Streisand, who returned to the Oscar stage to perform “The Way We Were.” Streisand, who rose to fame in “I Can Get It for You Wholesale” and “Funny Girl,” honored her former film co-star following his passing last September. Additionally, two-time Tony nominee Josh Groban, known for his turns in “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812” and “Sweeney Todd,” joined host O’Brien for a comedic medieval-themed musical number celebrating the night’s winners.
For a full list of 2026 Oscar winners, click here.
