Oscars 2021: the winners in full

Chloe Zhao makes history with Nomadland, with Frances McDormand and Anthony Hopkins taking the top acting prizes.

26 April 2021

Nomadland (2020)

Nomadland, Chloe Zhao’s drama about a woman living out of a van in the US, has triumphed at the 2021 Academy Awards, winning best picture, best director and best actress for Frances McDormand.

Zhao’s historic win makes her only the second woman to win the best director prize, and the first woman of colour.

Best actor went to Anthony Hopkins for his role in the dementia drama The Father. At 83, he is now the oldest actor to win the award.

Another Brit, Daniel Kaluuya, picked up the best supporting actor award, winning for his turn as Black Panther leader Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah.

Best supporting actress went to Youn Yuj-jung for Minari, making her the first Korean actor to win an Oscar.

British actor-writer-director Emerald Fennell took the Oscar for best original screenplay for her revenge thriller Promising Young Woman, while Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller got best adapted screenplay for The Father.

Pixar’s Soul won both the award for best animated feature and for its score. Best international feature went to Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round.

Multiple winners in the craft categories include Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which nabbed best costume design and best hair and make-up, and Mank, which won best cinematography and best production design. Sound of Metal took best sound and best editing.

Among the winning films that were first unveiled to UK audiences at the BFI London Film Festival are Nomadland, Another Round (which won the festival’s audience award for best film) and Soul. 

The releases of winning films Sound of Metal and Minari are both supported through the BFI Audience Fund with National Lottery money.

Best picture

Winner: Nomadland – producers: Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey and Chloé Zhao

The Father – producers: David Parfitt, Jean-Louis Livi and Philippe Carcassonne
Judas and the Black Messiah – producers: Shaka King, Charles D. King and Ryan Coogler
Mank – producers: Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth and Douglas Urbanski
Minari – producer: Christina Oh
Promising Young Woman – producers: Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell and Josey Mcnamara
Sound of Metal – producers: Bert Hamelinck and Sacha Ben Harroche
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – producers: Marc Platt and Stuart Besser

Directing

Winner: Nomadland – Chloé Zhao

Another Round – Thomas Vinterberg
Mank – David Fincher
Minari – Lee Isaac Chung
Promising Young Woman – Emerald Fennell

Actress in a leading role

Winner: Frances McDormand – Nomadland

Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Andra Day – The United States Vs. Billie Holiday
Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman
Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman

Actress in a supporting role

Winner: Yuh-Jung Youn – Minari

Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Glenn Close – Hillbilly Elegy
Olivia Colman – The Father
Amanda Seyfried – Mank

Actor in a leading role

Winner: Anthony Hopkins – The Father

Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Gary Oldman – Mank
Steven Yeun – Minari

Actor in a supporting role

Winner: Daniel Kaluuya – Judas and the Black Messiah

Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Leslie Odom, Jr – One Night in Miami…
Paul Raci – Sound of Metal
Lakeith Stanfield – Judas and the Black Messiah

Writing (adapted screenplay)

Winner: The Father – screenplay by Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan – screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Peter Baynham, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Mazer, Jena Friedman and Lee Kern; story by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer and Nina Pedrad
Nomadland – written for the screen by Chloé Zhao
One Night in Miami… – screenplay by Kemp Powers
The White Tiger – written for the screen by Ramin Bahrani

Writing (original screenplay)

Winner: Promising Young Woman – written by Emerald Fennell

Judas and the Black Messiah – screenplay by Will Berson and Shaka King; Story by Will Berson, Shaka King, Kenny Lucas and Keith Lucas
Minari – written by Lee Isaac Chung
Sound of Metal – screenplay by Darius Marder and Abraham Marder; story by Darius Marder and Derek Cianfrance
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – written by Aaron Sorkin

International feature film

Winner: Another Round – Denmark

Better Days – Hong Kong
Collective – Romania
The Man Who Sold His Skin – Tunisia
Quo Vadis, Aida? – Bosnia and Herzegovina

Animated feature film

Winner: Soul – Pete Docter and Dana Murray

Onward – Dan Scanlon and Kori Rae
Over the Moon – Glen Keane, Gennie Rim and Peilin Chou
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon – Richard Phelan, Will Becher and Paul Kewley
Wolfwalkers – Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Paul Young and Stéphan Roelants

Documentary (feature)

Winner: My Octopus Teacher – Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed and Craig Foster

Collective – Alexander Nanau and Bianca Oana
Crip Camp – Nicole Newnham, Jim Lebrecht and Sara Bolder
The Mole Agent – Maite Alberdi and Marcela Santibáñez
Time – Garrett Bradley, Lauren Domino and Kellen Quinn

Documentary (short subject)

Winner: Colette – Anthony Giacchino and Alice Doyard

A Concerto Is a Conversation – Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers
Do Not Split – Anders Hammer and Charlotte Cook
Hunger Ward – Skye Fitzgerald and Michael Scheuerman
A Love Song for Latasha – Sophia Nahli Allison and Janice Duncan

Cinematography

Winner: Mank – Erik Messerschmidt

Judas and the Black Messiah – Sean Bobbitt
News of the World – Dariusz Wolski
Nomadland – Joshua James Richards
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Phedon Papamichael

Costume design

Winner: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Ann Roth

Emma – Alexandra Byrne
Mank – Trish Summerville
Mulan – Bina Daigeler
Pinocchio – Massimo Cantini Parrini

Film editing

Winner: Sound of Metal – Mikkel E. G. Nielsen

The Father – Yorgos Lamprinos
Nomadland – Chloé Zhao
Promising Young Woman – Frédéric Thoraval
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Alan Baumgarten

Makeup and hairstyling

Winner: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson

Emma – Marese Langan, Laura Allen and Claudia Stolze
Hillbilly Elegy – Eryn Krueger Mekash, Matthew Mungle and Patricia Dehaney
Mank – Gigi Williams, Kimberley Spiteri and Colleen Labaff
Pinocchio – Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli and Francesco Pegoretti

Music (original score)

Winner: Soul – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste

Da 5 Bloods – Terence Blanchard
Mank – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Minari – Emile Mosseri
News of the World – James Newton Howard

Music (original song)

Winner: ‘Fight for You’ from Judas and the Black Messiah – music by H.E.R. and Dernst Emile II; lyric by H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas

‘Hear My Voice’ from The Trial of the Chicago 7 – music by Daniel Pemberton; lyric by Daniel Pemberton and Celeste Waite
‘Husavik’ from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga – music and lyric by Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus and Rickard Göransson
‘Io Sì (seen)’ from the Life Ahead (La vita davanti a se) – music by Diane Warren; lyric by Diane Warren and Laura Pausini
‘Speak Now’ from One Night in Miami… – music and lyric by Leslie Odom, Jr and Sam Ashworth

Production design

Winner: Mank – production design: Donald Graham Burt; set decoration: Jan Pascale

The Father – production design: Peter Francis; set decoration: Cathy Featherstone
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – production design: Mark Ricker; set decoration: Karen O’Hara and Diana Stoughton
News of the World – production design: David Crank; set decoration: Elizabeth Keenan
Tenet – production design: Nathan Crowley; set decoration: Kathy Lucas

Short film (animated)

Winner: If Anything Happens I Love You – Will McCormack and Michael Govier

Burrow – Madeline Sharafian and Michael Capbarat
Genius Loci – Adrien Mérigeau and Amaury Ovise
Opera – Erick Oh
Yes-People – Gísli Darri Halldórsson and Arnar Gunnarsson

Short film (live action)

Winner: Two Distant Strangers – Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe

Feeling Through – Doug Roland and Susan Ruzenski
The Letter Room – Elvira Lind and Sofia Sondervan
The Present – Farah Nabulsi
White Eye – Tomer Shushan and Shira Hochman

Sound

Winner: Sound of Metal – Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés and Phillip Bladh

Greyhound – Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Beau Borders and David Wyman
Mank – Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance and Drew Kunin
News of the World – Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller and John Pritchett
Soul – Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott and David Parker

Visual effects

Winner: Tenet – Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher

Love and Monsters – Matt Sloan, Genevieve Camilleri, Matt Everitt and Brian Cox
The Midnight Sky – Matthew Kasmir, Christopher Lawrence, Max Solomon and David Watkins
Mulan – Sean Faden, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury and Steve Ingram
The One and Only Ivan – Nick Davis, Greg Fisher, Ben Jones and Santiago Colomo Martinez

BFI Player logo

Stream new, cult and classic films

A free trial, then just £4.99/month or £49/year.

Try 14 days free

Other things to explore

news

SPOTLIGHT programme announced by BFI Film Audience Network to invest in culturally underserved communities

SPOTLIGHT programme announced by BFI Film Audience Network to invest in culturally underserved communities
news

6 emerging LGBTQIA+ creatives selected for BFI Flare x BAFTA professional development programme 2024

6 emerging LGBTQIA+ creatives selected for BFI Flare x BAFTA professional development programme 2024
news

Oscars 2024: the winners in full

Oscars 2024: the winners in full