At a Glance
- Stellan Skarsgård, 74, won Best Supporting Actor for Sentimental Value at the January 11, 2026 Golden Globes
- He joked he feared he was “too old” to win and thanked his wife, Megan Everett-Skarsgård, for “brutal support”
- The Norwegian film beat performances by Benicio Del Toro, Jacob Elordi, Paul Mescal, Sean Penn, and Adam Sandler
- Why it matters: The win spotlights a small foreign film and keeps the aging star in the awards-season spotlight
Stellan Skarsgård took the Beverly Hilton stage by surprise on Sunday, January 11, 2026, capturing the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for his role in the Norwegian drama Sentimental Value. The 74-year-old actor opened his acceptance speech by admitting he never expected to hear his name called.
“I thought I might be too old for this,” he quipped, earning laughter from the star-studded ballroom.
Rather than rattle off the usual list of industry thank-yous, Skarsgård used his time to praise the people who shaped his performance: his family.
“I’ve got to thank my wife,” he said, referring to producer Megan Everett-Skarsgård, whom he married in 2009. “She’s been amazing – a sort of brutal support, a tough lover and very educational.”
He added that his children also informed his portrayal of a negligent father in the film. “I’m playing a father who is a bad father. My children have really taught me what a bad father is,” he said to more audience laughter.
Skarsgård and Everett-Skarsgård share two sons, Ossian and Kolbjörn. The actor has six additional children – Alexander, Gustaf, Sam, Bill, Eija, and Valter – from his previous marriage to My Skarsgård.
A Call to Save the Big Screen
Before leaving the podium, Skarsgård urged viewers to seek out Sentimental Value in theaters.
“Hopefully you’ll see it in a cinema because they’re an [extinct] species now,” he said. “In a cinema where the lights go down … cinema should be seen in cinemas.”
Neon is distributing the Norwegian-language title stateside.
The Competition
The category featured a mix of first-time nominees and Hollywood veterans:
- Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein (Netflix)
- Paul Mescal – Hamnet (Focus Features)
- Adam Sandler – Jay Kelly (Netflix)
- Benicio Del Toro – One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)
- Sean Penn – One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)
Elordi arrived at the Globes as a double nominee, also recognized for Best Actor in a Limited Series for The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Just seven days earlier he won Best Supporting Actor at the Critics Choice Awards for Frankenstein, his first major acting trophy.
Penn collected his sixth Globe nomination; he previously won Best Actor – Drama for Mystic River in 2004. Del Toro has one Globe to his name – Best Supporting Actor for Traffic in 2001 – while Sandler’s last nomination came in 2003 for Punch-Drunk Love.
Inside Sentimental Value
Skarsgård plays Gustav Borg, a film director desperate to reconcile with his estranged daughter, Nora, an actress portrayed by Renate Reinsve. When Nora refuses to star in his autobiographical epic, Gustav casts an American actor (Elle Fanning) in the role, reigniting old family wounds.
Reinsve earned a Best Actress nomination for the same film, doubling its awards-season presence.
Sunday’s win marks Skarsgård’s second Golden Globe; he previously won in 2020 for his supporting turn in HBO’s Chernobyl.
What’s Next
The 2026 Academy Award nominations will be revealed on Thursday, January 22, with the Oscars ceremony set for Sunday, March 15. Globes wins often influence Oscar voter sentiment, giving Skarsgård and Sentimental Value fresh momentum heading into the final weeks of balloting.
Key Takeaways
- Stellan Skarsgård used his speech to thank his wife and children for teaching him how to play a flawed parent.
- The victory shines a rare spotlight on a Norwegian-language feature in a crowded awards race.
- With Oscar nominations looming, the win could boost Sentimental Value’s visibility among Academy voters.
