The 2026 Oscar nominees and their best sports roles, from ‘Creed’ to ‘Field of Dreams’
Before Michael B. Jordan played the dual roles of Smoke and Stack in “Sinners,” he was Adonis in the boxing ring – and before that, a Kekamba on the baseball diamond. Emma Stone channeled Billie Jean King years ahead of her Auxolith CEO turn in “Bugonia.” And Leonardo DiCaprio doesn’t get to “One Battle After Another” without Jim Carroll’s deflated hoop dream.
The nominees for this year’s Academy Awards come from such vast ranges, but almost all of them have sporting performances in their backgrounds. Ahead of Sunday’s show, we are reliving some of the contending actors’ and actresses’ top athletic roles in film or television. This reconnaissance whisks us from “Field of Dreams” to “Euphoria,” then toward present-day Hollywood.
This is not the place for cutting Oscars analysis. Our New York Times critics have that covered. This is where we look back and say, “They know ball.”
Nominees are sorted alphabetically by last name.
Rose Byrne: “Physical”Nomination: Best Actress, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”
This is Byrne’s first Oscar nomination after a long career onscreen. One of her stops along the way was this three-season Apple TV series, in which she starred as an aerobics instructor who struggled with disordered eating. “Physical” was committed to its 1980s setting, hairstyle and leotards. Byrne made a physical commitment to aerobics during production.
Timothée Chalamet: “Marty Supreme”Nomination: Best Actor, “Marty Supreme”
The ascendant movie star’s latest role is his most sports-related, too. “Marty Supreme” dives through the lonely world of 1950s table tennis. It also includes Harlem Globetrotters – two played by Kemba Walker and Tracy McGrady – and a ping -pong match with a seal. Classic Oscar bait.
In his personal life, Chalamet is a college football sharp and a Madison Square Garden courtside regular.
Benicio Del Toro: “The Fan”Nomination: Best Supporting Actor, “One Battle After Another”
The 1996 baseball thriller put Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes on the poster, but Del Toro stole scenes as Juan Primo, San Francisco Giants slugger. Yes, this movie used the Giants logo and uniforms and everything. No spoilers, but his bat flip is electric.
As a fan himself, Del Toro can be seen front row at Los Angeles Lakers games.
Leonardo DiCaprio: “The Basketball Diaries”Nomination: Best Actor, “One Battle After Another”
A full 30 years before “One Battle After Another,” DiCaprio anchored the harrowing story of Jim Carroll, who fell from hoops to heroin in New York City. “The Basketball Diaries” was sourced from the actual Carroll’s autobiography.
Off the set, DiCaprio just attended Super Bowl LX. Tom Brady told “Access Hollywood” that he’d want Leo to play him in a future biopic. A 28-3 comeback would come off as too unbelievable at the table read. Like Del Toro, DiCaprio loves his Lakers.
Jacob Elordi: “Euphoria”Nomination: Best Supporting Actor, “Frankenstein”
Elordi sprung to fame as high school football player Nate Jacobs in the HBO firebrand. In real life, he was a high school rugby player before a back injury forced him onto another path. Elordi was also in attendance at the World Series last year. It was Game 3 … the 18-inning instant classic. The third season of “Euphoria” premieres in April after a four-year hiatus.
Ethan Hawke: “Alive”Nomination: Best Actor, “Blue Moon”
We stay with rugby for Hawke’s sports moment, though “Alive” is more about survival than scrum. He portrayed Nando Parrado in the 1993 movie. Parrado is a real person, survivor of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 that crashed in the Andes. He and his rugby crew were flying to a match in Chile when disaster struck.
On a lighter note, Hawke is sort of the inverse Chalamet – in 2018, he told “The Bill Simmons Podcast” that he was kicked out of the Garden for criticizing how the Knicks treated former coach Mike D’Antoni. Hawke is a Brooklyn Nets fan now.
Kate Hudson: “Running Point”Nomination: Best Actress, “Song Sung Blue”
While Hudson covered Neil Diamond alongside Hugh Jackman in “Song Sung Blue,” she evoked Jeanie Buss in the Netflix original “Running Point.” Lightning & Thunder have nothing on the Los Angeles Waves, mainly because the Waves’ point guard is played by Chet Hanks. Before she starred as a basketball team president, Hudson was a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader in Robert Altman’s “Dr. T & the Women.”
Michael B. Jordan: “Creed”Nomination: Best Actor, “Sinners”
No one is confusing this guy with His Airness, but Jordan still has a ton of sports bona fides. As a rising star, he was Apollo Creed’s pugnacious son in the “Rocky” spinoff trilogy. As a young man, he quarterbacked East Dillon High in the TV version of “Friday Night Lights.” And as a child actor, he repped the lovable Kekambas in “Hardball.”
MBJ has played in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, and he loves Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans.
Delroy Lindo: “Soul of the Game”Nomination: Best Supporting Actor, “Sinners”
Lindo was locked in as the Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige in this 1996 HBO movie. “Soul of the Game” explored Negro League Baseball in postwar Kansas City. Lindo admitted that he was proud, yet nervous to embody such a sports icon.
The actor also appeared in 1989’s “The Blood of Heroes,” in which the fictional game of Jugger was introduced to the world. It was originally depicted as a dystopian bloodsport involving skull bones, but fans have basically made it a cross between obstacle courses and LARPing.
Amy Madigan: “Field of Dreams”Nomination: Best Supporting Actress, “Weapons”
Madigan’s first Academy Award nomination was for her role in the 1985 film “Twice in a Lifetime.” Four decades later, she has her second nomination for “Weapons.” Baseball fans, though, will forever celebrate her as Annie Kinsella from Dyersville, Iowa. (“If you build it, he will come” hits differently as a horror tagline).
Madigan memorably at the local school board scene, but sold pure disbelief when she met Shoeless Joe Jackson.
Sean Penn: “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”Nomination: Best Supporting Actor, “One Battle After Another”
Jeff Spicoli. Mr. Hand. Sportswriters would call it the Ridgemont Rumble. Spicoli saved the party, but he was a devoted surfer at his core. All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I’m fine.” Truer words have never been spoken.
This was not Penn’s first movie, nor did it earn him one of his two Oscars, but it still might be the role most associated with his massive filmography.
Stellan Skarsgård: “Borg vs. McEnroe”
Nomination: Best Supporting Actor, “Sentimental Value”
There was nothing “sentimental” about Skarsgård’s Lennart Bergelin, the Swedish tennis luminary who coached Björn Borg into a stoic competitor. “Borg vs. McEnroe” used the hallowed All England Club{/a} to land its apogee, the 1980 Wimbledon championship.
Emma Stone: “Battle of the Sexes”
Nomination: Best Actress, “Bugonia”
More autobiographical tennis from Skarsgård to Stone. The actress is going for her third Oscar triumph – she won for 2016’s “La La Land” not “Moonlight”, then added a second win with “Poor Things” seven years later. In between those two, Stone became Billie Jean King for “Battle of the Sexes.” She worked with tennis pro {a href=”https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/sports/tennis/kaitlyn-christian-battle-of-the-sexes.html”}Kaitlyn Christian{/a} to emulate King’s performance in the famed exhibition with Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell).
Beyond the racket, Stone is a dedicated San Diego Padres fan.
{strong style=”text-align: center; text-wrap-mode: nowrap; font-size: 1.17em;”}Teyana Taylor: “White Men Can’t Jump”{/strong}
Nomination: Best Supporting Actress, “One Battle After Another”
Taylor was a love interest in an ill-fated update of the L.A. blacktop classic (original at 75 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, remake at 26). But her real-life sports reps include last year’s {a href=”https://www.tiktok.com/@nfl/video/7469275583256595754?lang=en”}Super Bowl flag football{/a} scrimmage and the Air Jordan “{a href=”https://www.nike.com/launch/t/air-jordan-3-teyana-taylor-concrete-rose”}Concrete Rose{/a}” collaboration, which drops one day before the Oscars. Would Perfidia Beverly Hills wear the shoes? Maybe not. Would she pull that flag and make that tackle? {a href=”https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/movies/one-battle-after-another-review-paul-thomas-anderson.html”}Almost certainly{/a}.
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