Adrien Brody, Kieran Culkin, Mikey Madison, and Zoe Saldaña, all recipients of last year’s Academy Awards for acting, have been announced as the first official presenters for the 98th Oscars ceremony. The Academy’s executive producers, Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan, revealed these acclaimed actors will take the stage to present trophies to the incoming winners, continuing the longstanding tradition of involving previous year’s victors in the event.
Profiles of the Returning Presenters and Their Award-Winning Roles
Adrien Brody earned his second Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of an architect and Holocaust survivor in The Brutalist, following his original win for The Pianist in 2002. Mikey Madison secured the Best Actress award for her role as the lead stripper in the dramedy Anora. Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldaña both won supporting acting awards; Culkin’s role was as a sarcastic cousin on a Jewish heritage tour in A Real Pain, while Saldaña was recognized for her performance as a struggling attorney in the Spanish-language musical Emilia Pérez. Their presence as presenters underlines the Academy’s practice of highlighting recent champions in its ceremonies.
Tradition and Presentation Formats at the Oscars
The Academy often follows the convention of inviting the previous year’s acting winners to distribute awards, sometimes swapping genders for the presenters and recipients. Past ceremonies have also featured variations of the “fab five” format, where five former winners from a category come together to honor this year’s nominees. While the first four presenters have been announced, the Academy and the production team have yet to disclose which categories Adrien Brody, Kieran Culkin, Mikey Madison, and Zoe Saldaña will present during the broadcast.
Additional Presenters and Oscar Season Highlights
More presenters are expected to be announced in the upcoming weeks as the ceremony approaches. This year’s nominations are highlighted by Ryan Coogler’s vampire-centered drama Sinners, which achieved a record-setting 16 Oscar nods. Paul Thomas Anderson’s politically charged film One Battle After Another, with 13 nominations, is also a frontrunner. Both are contenders for Best Picture, along with films such as Bugonia, F1, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, and Train Dreams.
Looking Ahead: Key Award Shows and Final Voting
As the awards season progresses, crucial indications of momentum will emerge from the 79th BAFTA Awards, followed by the Producers Guild of America Awards on February 28 and The Actor Awards (formerly known as the SAG Awards) on March 1. Final voting for the Oscars is scheduled from February 26 through March 5. Conan O’Brien will return as host for the telecast, set for March 15 at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. The ceremony will be broadcast live on ABC and streamed on Hulu, reaching audiences in more than 200 territories worldwide.
“Brody won his second best actor statuette (after The Pianist, 2002) for portraying an architect and Holocaust survivor in The Brutalist.” – Raj Kapoor, executive producer
