Oscars 2026: Adrien Brody, Mikey Madison, Zoe Saldaña and Kieran Culkin set as first presenters
It's that time of the year again when the coveted Academy Awards are given out to deserving winners. In a tradition dating back to the first Oscars in 1929, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences annually recognizes distinguished performers and contributors across various categories. The Academy itself is one of the most premier film organizations in the world, and in a recent press release, has divulged the names of the celebrities who shall present this year's awards.
Academy Award Winner Adrien Brody, Zoe Saldaña, Mikey Madison, and Kieran Culkin will be seen on the upcoming 98th Oscar Awards ceremony as presenters. All of them are former Academy Award winners, with Brody taking home his second Best Actor statuette for his stirring portrayal of architect and Holocaust survivor László Tóth. He had won his first Academy Award for the 2002 film 'The Pianist'. Culkin was revered for his performance as a quick-witted cousin embarking on a Jewish heritage tour in 'A Real Pain'. On the other hand, Madison won her first Oscar for playing the titular character in 'Anora,' and Saldaña is remembered for her portrayal of a struggling attorney in 'Emilia Perez.'
The aforementioned announcement was made by the award show's executive producers, Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan. As of this writing, the celebrity quartet has been announced as the first official group of presenters, and the Academy is expected to reveal the names of the other presenters in the coming days. Bringing back the previous year's winner to honour the present year's awardees has been a long-standing tradition of the Academy. The Oscars have even reversed the gender-based pattern of presenters in previous years, having male winners of the Best Actor in a Leading Role category present the award for Best Actress in the current year, and so on.
The final voting for the Oscars is set to commence on February 26 and continue through March 5, after which the final winners will be determined. Conan O'Brien is supposed to host the upcoming award ceremony, which will air live on March 15 at 7 P.M. ET and 4 P.M. PT from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. The event will be broadcast on ABC and Hulu, and will air simultaneously in more than 200 territories worldwide. The 79th BAFTA Awards, which air this Sunday, and the Producers Guild of America Awards on February 28, will shed ample light on where the respective Oscar contenders stand. As of now, the nominations led by Ryan Coogler's massive hit 'Sinners', which has secured a record-breaking sixteen nominations in total, followed by Paul Thomas Anderson's 'One Battle After Another', which has thirteen nominations.
