Jessie Buckley won the 2026 Oscar for Actress in a Leading Role for Hamnet. My ranking puts her first, followed by Rose Byrne, Renate Reinsve, Emma Stone and Kate Hudson. The Academy named five nominees but did not rank them; places two through five here are an editorial judgment based on emotional range, transformation, tonal control and how centrally each performance carries its film.
The 98th Academy Awards, held March 15, 2026, honored films released in 2025. Here is who each nominee played, what made the role distinctive and why the performances land in this order.
How the five performances compare
| Rank | Nominee | Film | Performance’s central demand |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jessie Buckley | Hamnet | Make grief and tenderness the emotional center of a family story |
| 2 | Rose Byrne | If I Had Legs I’d Kick You | Sustain a mounting domestic crisis through shifts between dark comedy and horror |
| 3 | Renate Reinsve | Sentimental Value | Reveal inner conflict through restrained emotion, panic and humor |
| 4 | Emma Stone | Bugonia | Hold corporate composure amid an increasingly absurd abduction |
| 5 | Kate Hudson | Song Sung Blue | Balance musical imitation with a distinct character voice |
The Academy’s official 2026 ceremony page records the nominees and winner. The category’s nomination order is not a ranking, so the ordering below reflects the performance qualities described in the films’ roles and the available reporting, not an official Academy judgment.
1. Jessie Buckley in Hamnet
Buckley plays Agnes, William Shakespeare’s wife, in a fictionalized account of the death of their son Hamnet and the imagined connection between that loss and Hamlet. The role asks her to carry the film’s emotional center: grief, tenderness and the gradual movement toward acceptance. CBS News describes Buckley’s performance as grounding the story’s pain and grief.
#1 Best Overall
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That sustained emotional weight makes Buckley’s work the strongest of the five in this ranking. She spoke to CBS News about preparing for difficult scenes by stepping away into nature: “I just need to be in nature and start my day and wake up that way, and then go to the set and see what came out.” Buckley won the Oscar. In her acceptance speech, she dedicated it “to the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart” and to women who “continue to create against all odds.”
Hamnet adapts Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, which is a natural companion for readers interested in the story’s source material.
Rank #2
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- Diameter of 1.57" (40mm)
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2. Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Byrne plays Linda, a working mother facing a sick child, a plumbing disaster and a temporary stay in a motel while her husband is away. The performance’s challenge is to make the escalating pressure feel coherent without flattening the film’s changes in tone. CBS News describes the movie as disorienting, with horror and dark comedy, and Byrne’s work as devastating.
Her placement at number two reflects the demanding balance between Linda’s hostility and vulnerability as one crisis compounds another. Byrne told CBS News she spent several weeks rehearsing and closely working through the screenplay with writer-director Mary Bronstein. As she put it, “I can’t have expectations around anything, because it’s so out of my control. All I can control is what I did between action and cut.”
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Rank #3
- Beautiful Artwork
- Detailed Lettering
- Affordable gift or display item
- Diameter of 1.57" (40mm)
- Enclosed in a Protective Capsule
3. Renate Reinsve in Sentimental Value
Reinsve plays Nora, an emotionally fragile actress estranged from her father, Gustav. After her mother’s death, their reunion brings the family’s complicated history back into view. The role relies less on outward display than on the tension between what Nora feels and what she can express, including shifts between panic and humor.
Director Joachim Trier described Reinsve’s screen presence this way: “The camera can read her mind.” That contained, layered approach earns her third place. The film received nine Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and International Feature Film; the nomination count signals recognition for the film, but does not by itself rank Reinsve’s performance.
Rank #4
4. Emma Stone in Bugonia
Stone plays Michelle Fuller, a pharmaceutical-company executive abducted by conspiracy theorists who believe she is an alien plotting against Earth. Without giving away later turns, the role’s central tension is the contrast between Michelle’s public corporate composure and the kidnapping’s escalating absurdity.
Stone’s approach draws on Michelle’s own belief that she is serving humanity through science. “I think that Michelle’s modus operandi is to improve upon civilization through science,” she told CBS News. The performance places fourth here for its control of that clash between polished authority and a black-comedy premise.
5. Kate Hudson in Song Sung Blue
Hudson plays Claire Sardina in the musical biopic about Mike and Claire Sardina, the couple behind the Neil Diamond tribute act Lightning & Thunder. The role calls for musical characterization as well as dramatic work: Claire’s singing must evoke a tribute performer without reducing her to an imitation.
Hudson told CBS News that finding that balance was the hardest part: “The hardest thing for me was finding my own voice.” The vocal challenge gives the performance a distinct shape among the nominees, though in this ranking it sits fifth compared with the other roles’ emotional and tonal demands.
Who were the 2026 Best Actress Oscar nominees?
The five nominees for Actress in a Leading Role were Jessie Buckley for Hamnet, Rose Byrne for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Kate Hudson for Song Sung Blue, Renate Reinsve for Sentimental Value and Emma Stone for Bugonia. Buckley won. The Academy announced nominations on January 22, 2026, and held the 98th ceremony on March 15.
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