Wins for best make up and sound spare UK’s blushes at Oscars
British performers have now failed to win any of the acting Oscars in every year from 2022 to 2026.
Wins in the categories for best make up and best sound spared the UK’s blushes at this year’s Academy Awards, on an otherwise poor night for British talent.
The UK failed to take home any of acting Oscars up for grabs – the fifth year in a row this has happened and the longest gap of its kind so far this century.
There was bad luck in the category for best original score, where three British composers were nominated but all lost out.
The UK also missed the chance of securing the first ever Oscar for casting.
The first of Britain’s two successes came early in proceedings on Sunday night, when Cheshire-born Mike Hill was among the team who won the Academy Award for best make up and hairstyling, for their work on Guillermo del Toro’s update of the classic horror story Frankenstein.
It was followed later by British sound engineer Gareth John making his way to the stage as one of the joint winners of the Oscar for best sound, for the sporting drama F1.
This is the second year in a row that John has won this award, sharing it in 2025 for his work on the sci-fi epic Dune: Part Two.
The UK’s best hope for success in one of the acting categories was the Oscar for best supporting actress, where the nominees included Bafta-winner Wunmi Mosaku, for her role in the horror film Sinners.
But Mosaku – who has joint British-Nigerian nationality – lost out to the American Amy Madigan, who won for her part in the supernatural mystery Weapons.
Delroy Lindo, who was born and raised in London before moving to the US as a teenager, was among the nominees for best supporting actor, also for the film Sinners.
Lindo, who now considers himself an American, lost out to veteran US actor Sean Penn, who won for the comedy action epic One Battle After Another.
No British talent had been nominated for either best actor or best actress, the first time this has occurred in the same year since 2012.
The absence of any nominees in these categories, together with Mosaku and Lindo missing out, means the UK has now failed to win any of the four acting awards in every year from 2022 to 2026.
The last time the country endured an acting Oscars drought of this length was in the 1990s.
British talent dominated the nominations for best original score, with nods for Jerskin Fendrix (for Bugonia), Max Richter (Hamnet) and Jonny Greenwood (One Battle After Another).
In any other year, a win for the UK in this category might have been guaranteed.
This year, however, all three composers were up against Ludwig Goransson, who had already picked up a Bafta, Critics’ Choice award and Golden Globe for his work on Sinners, and who duly added the Oscar to complete the set.
The UK’s Nina Gold had a chance to cap her long career in the film industry by winning the first ever Academy Award for casting, but she lost out to the American Cassandra Kulukundis (One Battle After Another).
The two British wins at this year’s ceremony is down from six wins last year and is the lowest number since 2017, when the country picked up just one Oscar.
