Stellan Skarsgård made some Oscar history by becoming the first Best Supporting Actor nominee from an international film. In the 97 years of Academy Awards, that particular category has been a no-go zone despite various performers getting recognized in the other three acting categories. In the last few years alone, we’ve had Fernanda Torres (I’m Still Here) for Best Actress, Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory) for Best Actor, and Marina de Tavira (Roma) for Best Supporting Actress.
That is not to say that past Best Supporting Actor fields shunned non-English-language performances. In fact, there are five actors who have been cited in this category for such work in American-produced films, three of whom have won:
1970: John Mills (Ryan’s Daughter), British Sign Language
1974: Robert De Niro (The Godfather Part II), Italian/Sicilian dialect — won
1990: Graham Greene (Dances With Wolves), Lakota
2000: Benicio Del Toro (Traffic), Spanish — won
2021: Troy Kotsur (CODA), American Sign Language — won
There are also actors in features who speak other various languages in addition to English in their supporting performances at the Oscars, such as nominees Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips) with Somali and Yura Borisov (Anora) with Russian, and winners Joel Grey (Cabaret) with German, Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once) with Mandarin, and Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) with German and French. But despite a vast representation of multilingual performances, none have ever come from an international production.
Stellan Skarsgård at the 2026 Golden GlobesRich Polk/2026GG/Penske Media
Skarsgård broke that mold with a nomination in Sentimental Value as the absentee filmmaker father who tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter by offering her the lead role in his comeback movie. While Skarsgård does speak a fair amount of English as Gustav Borg, he primarily converses in Swedish, particularly when talking to his daughters played by Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas.
The family drama is helmed by Danish-Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier, who was previously recognized at the Oscars for cowriting The Worst Person in the World. Sentimental Value received nine total nominations Thursday, including Best Picture, Best International Feature, Best Director, Best Actress for Reinsve, and Best Supporting Actress for both Lilleaas and Elle Fanning, as well as original screenplay and film editing.
In the supporting actor race, Skarsgård is up against One Battle After Another stars Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro, Frankenstein’s Jacob Elordi, and a surprise contender in Sinners’ Delroy Lindo.
The Oscars will be presented on March 15.
The story was originally published on Jan. 20; it was updated Jan. 22 following the Oscar nominations.