Hollywood’s annual awards season burst into life on January 11, 2026, as the Golden Globe Awards returned to Beverly Hills, showering the spotlight on both established and rising stars. The night’s first major honors went to Teyana Taylor and Stellan Skarsgård, whose emotional and pointed acceptance speeches set the tone for an evening filled with celebration, reflection, and a call for change both on and off the screen.
Teyana Taylor, recognized for her powerful performance as a revolutionary on the run in Paul Thomas Anderson’s dark comedy One Battle After Another, claimed the Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture award. Overcome with emotion, Taylor began her speech with a playful nod to her children, who were waiting upstairs at the Beverly Hilton. “You better be off those damn phones and watching me right now,” she joked, drawing laughter from the audience, according to CBS Broadcasting. But Taylor quickly shifted to a more serious note, delivering an inspirational message to Black women and girls everywhere. “Most importantly, to my Brown sisters and little Brown girls watching tonight,” she said, “our softness is not a liability. Our depth is not too much. Our light does not need permission to shine. We belong in every room we walk into. Our voices matter, and our dreams deserve room to shine.”
Her win was particularly significant as One Battle After Another led the film nominations at this year’s Golden Globes, competing for Best Musical or Comedy against Marty Supreme and Bugonia. The film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role, follows a former revolutionary forced back into action to save his daughter, with Taylor playing his partner. The film’s ensemble and creative vision have been widely praised, and Taylor’s heartfelt dedication underscored the broader push for representation in Hollywood, as reported by the Orange County Register.
Stellan Skarsgård, meanwhile, took home the Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture award for his role in the Norwegian family drama Sentimental Value. The 74-year-old actor, whose real-life experience as a father of eight—including notable actors Alexander and Bill Skarsgård—lent depth to his portrayal of Gustav Borg, a film director struggling to reconnect with his estranged daughter. During his acceptance speech, Skarsgård displayed characteristic wit, saying, “My children have been very educational. I’m playing a father who is a bad father there. And my children have really told me what a bad father is.” He also thanked his wife, Megan Everett-Skarsgård, calling her “a sort of brutal support, a tough lover and very educational.”
Skarsgård’s win was something of an upset, as he triumphed over a strong field of nominees that included Benicio Del Toro (One Battle After Another), Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein), Paul Mescal (Hamnet), Sean Penn (One Battle After Another), and Adam Sandler (Jay Kelly). According to People, Skarsgård admitted he was surprised by the honor, joking that he thought he might be “too old” to win. But his focus quickly turned to the craft and the industry’s future. “Hopefully you will see it in a cinema because they are an extinguished species now. In a cinema, the lights go down and eventually you share the pulse with some other people—cinema should be seen in a cinema,” he urged, echoing concerns that the box office has yet to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and that the communal magic of theaters is under threat.
Skarsgård’s performance in Sentimental Value—where his character’s attempt to cast his daughter in his magnum opus backfires—resonated with audiences and critics alike. The film’s modest Norwegian origins and lack of a large advertising budget made its international recognition at the Globes all the more poignant. Skarsgård, who previously won a Golden Globe for his role in HBO’s Chernobyl, reminded viewers of the importance of experiencing films together, not just at home but in theaters. “It’s a small Norwegian film, with no money for advertising or anything, that gets to see the world this way,” he remarked, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
The 2026 Golden Globes, hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser, unfolded with a mixture of irreverence and affection. Glaser’s monologue poked fun at Hollywood’s elite but stopped short of the harshness sometimes seen in past ceremonies, keeping the mood jovial. She quipped about Leonardo DiCaprio’s dating history and riffed on the careers of other stars, lightening the atmosphere before the serious business of the awards began.
This year’s ceremony also introduced a new podcast category, reflecting the evolving landscape of entertainment. On the television side, HBO’s The White Lotus led nominations, with Netflix’s crime drama Adolescence close behind. The acting categories were stacked with talent, including Timothée Chalamet, Dwayne Johnson, Michael B. Jordan, Jessie Buckley, Ariana Grande, and Cynthia Erivo, further highlighting the breadth of artistic achievement celebrated at the Globes.
As always, the Golden Globes serve as a bellwether for the Academy Awards, set to take place in March 2026. While the Globes’ voters do not directly influence Oscar outcomes, their selections often boost the momentum of films and performers as they head into the final stretch of awards season. Nominations for the 2026 Academy Awards are scheduled to be announced on January 22, keeping anticipation high among industry insiders and fans alike.
Beyond the trophies and the glitz, the 83rd annual Golden Globes were a reminder of the power of storytelling and the importance of visibility, both for underrepresented artists and for the traditional cinema experience. With Taylor’s rallying cry for inclusion and Skarsgård’s passionate plea for the preservation of movie theaters, the ceremony looked both inward and outward, celebrating achievement while urging the industry—and its audiences—not to lose sight of what makes film so vital.
For one night in Beverly Hills, the stars aligned to honor not just the best in film and television, but also the dreams, struggles, and hopes that fuel the world’s love affair with the silver screen.
