Jacob Elordi's Major Awards Win Is A Game Changer For The Oscars

1 week ago 16

Cooper Hood is the Associate Editor for all new movie releases, in theaters and on streaming. In addition to writing articles about these titles and upcoming releases, he also oversees content planning for each, ensuring that ScreenRant continues to cover major releases for months after their release.

He has written various reviews for ScreenRant that appear on Rotten Tomatoes, coordinated Oscars and San Diego Comic-Con coverage, appeared on CNN to talk about Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, and done select interviews with talent over the years.

Jacob Elordi vaulted himself into Oscars consideration with his wonderful performance as The Creature in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein. After racking up several nominations with critics groups, it's started to seem more likely he'll be among the Best Supporting Actor Oscar 2026 nominees. Even with that momentum on his side, it still felt like his chances of winning the Academy Award were a stretch.

Elordi has now received a big boost to his standing in the awards season after becoming the Critics' Choice Awards 2026 winner for Best Supporting Actor. He beat out presumed stronger Oscar contenders like Benicio del Toro (One Battle After Another), Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value), and Sean Penn (One Battle After Another). While critics aren't Academy members and don't vote for the Oscars, his win still shakes up the race.

The Critics' Choice Awards Winners Often Match The Oscars

The American Critics Choice Association has a strong history of voting similarly to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Their membership is significantly smaller (637 as of 2023 versus over 11,000 currently for AMPAS) and has no overlap, but voters' taste aligns more often than not.

Since the Critics' Choice Awards began in 1995, the Oscars and CCAs have matched winners 66% of the time in Best Supporting Actor. This includes aligning on nine consecutive winners, starting in 2016 with Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) and continuing through Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) last year.

This suggests that Elordi may be in pole position for the Oscar now. At the very least, it probably locks up an Oscar nomination for him. In the entire 30 years of the CCAs, the Best Supporting Actor winner has never been snubbed by the Academy.

So, rather than Elordi being an outsider in this Oscars category race, he should be considered firmly entrenched as a likely nominee, and even a potential winner. It could help that Frankenstein continues to pick up steam overall, including in another category that's directly tied to the 28-year-old's role.

Del Toro's film is a frontrunner to win Best Makeup and Hairstyling at the Oscars. While there are many great examples of that work throughout the film, Elordi's look as the Creature is a big reason why the makeup and hair teams are gaining recognition. The combination of their talents and Elordi's performance helped make the creature feel so real and resonate so strongly with viewers.

If voters put Frankenstein atop Oscar ballots for winning Best Makeup and Hairstyling, it'd make some sense for them to also then support Elordi in Best Supporting Actor. The two wins could go hand-in-hand, especially since del Toro's movie has really gained favor as awards season has continued on.

Jacob Elordi's win at the CCAs is another sign of that. While he's watched Benicio del Toro and Skarsgård win awards elsewhere, the Australian star may now experience a surge of support and wind up as an Oscar winner when the 98th Academy Awards are held on March 15.