The 2026 Oscars take place on Sunday, March 15th at 7:00 p.m. ET. It has been a wild awards season so far, with each nominee being honored at different awards shows in the lead-up to the Academy Awards. All of the acting awards, outside of Best Actress, are real mysteries heading into Oscars night.
Here is a full breakdown of the Best Supporting Actor category at the 2026 Oscars, including nominees, odds and a prediction for who will win.
Check out some of our other Oscars content here.
Find our predictions for other major 2026 Oscars categories here!
- Best Picture
- Best Actor
- Best Actress
- Best Supporting Actress
- Best Director
- Best Original Screenplay
- Best Adapted Screenplay
2026 Oscars Best Supporting Actor Nominees
Sean Penn (One Battle After Another)
Benicio Del Toro (One Battle After Another)
Stellan Skarsgard (Sentimental Value)
Delroy Lindo (Sinners)
Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein)
2026 Best Supporting Actor Oscars Odds
- Sean Penn (-350)
- Stellan Skarsgard (+400)
- Delroy Lindo (+600)
- Benicio Del Toro (+2000)
- Jacob Elordi (+2500)
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook
Who will win Best Supporting Actor at the 2026 Oscars?
It has been a rollercoaster ride of a Best Supporting Actor race this awards season. Here is a look at why all five nominees have a chance to win, along with who will win and who I think should win the Oscar.
Sean Penn (One Battle After Another)
Sean Penn is the favorite to win Best Supporting Actor at the 2026 Oscars. Penn won at the BAFTAs and the Actor Awards in the lead-up to the Oscars. This would be a historic Oscars win for Penn if he comes out victorious. Penn would become just the eighth person in history to win three or more acting Oscars. He previously won Best Actor Oscars for Mystic River and Milk. This would be Penn’s first time winning Best Supporting Actor. The list of male actors with three acting Oscars would be Sean Penn, Jack Nicholson, Daniel Day-Lewis and Walter Brennan.
Penn as Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw is truly incredible, and it is an Oscar-worthy performance. In moments when he needs to be, he is a truly terrifying villain. However, he also portrays a cartoonish silliness to the character that allows us, the audience, to mock this evil villain. While this is a true supporting performance, the entire story revolves around Lockjaw’s pursuit of Willa (Chase Infiniti). Even when Penn isn’t on screen, Lockjaw’s presence is felt.
Stellan Skarsgard (Sentimental Value)
Stellan Skarsgard gave an incredible performance in Sentimental Value. Skarsgard has been in some great movies over the years and is undoubtedly a fantastic actor. However, over the last 20 years, he has mostly been known for his big roles in franchises like Pirates of the Caribbean, Mamma Mia!, Marvel and Dune. He has also become well-known for being the patriarch of one of the biggest acting families in Hollywood as his sons have become stars in their own right.
This movie was a good reminder of how special an actor Stellan Skarsgard is. Going back to his roots and doing a Scandinavian film is what it took for Skarsgard to get his first career Academy Award nomination. Sentimental Value got four acting nominations, with the film getting universal acclaim for all of the great performances. Skarsgard has a real shot to win, as he defeated Sean Penn for this award at the Golden Globes.
Delroy Lindo (Sinners)
Delroy Lindo now has the third-best odds to win Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars, despite not even being nominated at any of the major precursors. This would be a historic win if Lindo somehow gets his name called on Sunday night. Marcia Gay Harden (Pollock) is the only person to ever win an acting Oscar after not getting nominated at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, SAG or Critics Choice. Lindo’s performance was initially overlooked by some of the voting bodies, but Lindo and Sinners as a whole have picked up huge momentum over the past few weeks.
Delroy Lindo’s portrayal of Delta Slim is really fantastic. Lindo provides some much-needed comedic relief throughout the film. However, the character of Delta Slim is also incredibly important to the themes of the film. Slim lets us know how important it is to preserve culture and traditions over different generations. He inspires Sammy to care about music in the right way and is the real heartbeat of the story. While I can’t see Lindo actually winning, he has had a career worthy of an Academy Award, so nobody would complain if he won.
Benicio Del Toro (One Battle After Another)
Benicio Del Toro looked like an early frontrunner for this award all the way back at the beginning of awards season. Del Toro is such a beloved figure in Hollywood. His character, Sensei Sergio, is also incredibly endearing, funny and principled. Sensei Sergio is the antithesis of Colonel Lockjaw. So, initially, it seemed more likely that voters would want to back Del Toro over Penn if they were to pick someone from One Battle After Another. However, despite how fantastic Del Toro is in the film, it is looking more and more likely that a bulk of the One Battle votes will go to Sean Penn.
Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein)
Jacob Elordi did a fantastic job playing the Creature in Frankenstein. Elordi was not the initial choice for the role. Guillermo del Toro pivoted to Elordi only after Andrew Garfield had to drop out of the film. That gave Elordi limited time to figure out how to become the Creature. However, his emotional and touching performance, given with minimal dialogue, is the best part of the film. He deservedly picked up one big win during awards season, at the Critics’ Choice Awards. Elordi isn’t going to win the Oscar for this performance, but it is another great role in a growing resume for the young actor.
