Oscars 2026 live updates: Stars arrive on the red carpet for Hollywood’s big night – UK Times

Elle Fanning is dazzling on the red carpet in a white custom ballgown by Givenchy.

Fanning is nominated for best supporting actress tonight for her performance in Sentimental Value.

Hamnet actor Jessie Buckley, who is expected to take home the Oscar for best actress tonight, is wearing a two-toned Chanel gown to the 98th Academy Awards tonight.

The Irish star revealed on the red carpet that her team at Chanel wrote her favorite Shakespeare sonnet on a piece of tissue paper and put it inside her purse for the night.

The 2026 Oscars red carpet is underway now, but the official pre-show — hosted by Amelia Dimoldenberg — kicks off at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

The show, hosted by Conan O’Brien, is starting early this year at 7 p.m. ET. The three-hour ceremony will air on ABC and stream on Hulu.

Happy Oscars! Coming to you live from The Independent’s newsroom in New York City, where the majority of our U.S. culture team is hunkered down with Diet Cokes and battered paper ballots scribbled with our predictions.

Over on the West Coast, our own Kevin E. G. Perry is holding down the fort from the winners’ pressroom, while Caitlin Hornik will bring us glamorous tidbits from the legendary Vanity Fair Oscar party red carpet later in the night.

So follow along here for everything you need to know about Hollywood’s most glamorous evening — we have a long night ahead of us!

The opening sequence of Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another follows a group of radical activists as they launch a daring raid on an immigration detention center, but out on the streets of Hollywood the film’s title is being repurposed by artists to deliver a slightly different anti-Trump message.

On a bus stop near the ceremony, an altered version of the film’s poster shows Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu.

Presumably in reference to recent joint US and Israel attacks on Iran, a pull quote attributed to Jeffrey Epstein reads: “A great distraction.”

Marty Supreme actor Kevin O’Leary said on the red carpet that before he arrived, he bet on $1,000 on Timothée Chalamet winning best actor.

Chalamet is up against Leonardo DiCaprio, Ethan Hawke, Michael B. Jordan and Wagner Moura for the big prize.

While celebrities are showing up in their Sunday best on Hollywood’s biggest night of the year, some stars have raised eyebrows with their fashion choices.

Here’s a look at some of the most questionable outfits of the night.

When asked who she’s rooting for at the Oscars tonight, singer Diane Warren simply said, “Me.”

A-listers are beginning to file on to the red carpet — and here’s a peek at some of the best looks of the night so far.

Kevin O’Leary, who appeared in nominated film Marty Supreme, has arrived on the red carpet.