Rose Byrne lost out to Jessie Buckley at the 2026 BAFTAs.
The BAFTA Film Awards ceremony took place at the Royal Festival Hall in London on Sunday (February 22).
Hosted by “The Traitors” host Alan Cumming, this year’s awards seemed to be more of an open field than previous editions, without a clear juggernaut expected to sweep the board.
Early winners included Sean Penn, who took home the Best Supporting Actor prize for his performance in “One Battle After Another,” and Wunmi Mosaku, who won Best Supporting Actress for “Sinners.” “Frankenstein” emerged as an early leader in the craft categories, winning in both Production Design and Make-Up and Hair.
Rose Byrne, Australia’s big hope on the night, came away empty-handed in the Leading Actress category, losing out to Irish actor Jessie Buckley for “Hamnet.”
See the rest of this year’s BAFTA winners here.
Earlier in awards season, Byrne took home her first-ever Golden Globe Award for her star turn in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.”
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“Of course, I didn’t prepare anything,” a visibly emotional Byrne said at January’s ceremony.
“Thank you so much. This is such a shock.”
She added: “Thanks to my mum and dad who bought Paramount+ so they can watch the Golden Globes from Sydney… I want to thank my husband, Bobby Cannavale, who couldn’t be here because we’re getting a bearded dragon and he went to a reptile expo in New Jersey, so thank you, baby!”
Byrne emerged victorious in a very tough category that also featured Cynthia Erivo (“Wicked: For Good”), Emma Stone (“Bugonia”), Kate Hemsworth (“Song Sung Blue”), Chase Infiniti (“One Battle After Another”) and Amanda Seyfried (“The Testament of Ann Lee”).
She has previously been nominated for a Golden Globe twice, both coming for her work in the hit TV show “Damages” in 2008 and 2010.
Byrne’s attention now turns to the Oscars, where she’ll once again face off against Buckley as well as Kate Hudson (“Song Sung Blue”), Renate Reinsve (“Sentimental Value”) and Emma Stone (“Begonia”) in the Best Actress category.