Why Michael B Jordan Won the Oscar

What a moment. What a victory. It's time to talk about why Michael B. Jordan won the Oscar for Best Actor. Hey guys, it's Brian. Welcome to The Awards Contender. The time has come to break this one down. How did he do it? Michael B. Jordan did not win at the Globes, at Critics' Choice, or at BAFTA, but he won the Academy Award. It was a moment that brought the house down. Everybody, well, mostly everybody, seemed to be very happy for him. He gave an amazing speech and gave all of us one of the most memorable Oscar wins of the night. So how did it happen? How did Michael B. Jordan pull this off? Something that, before March 1st, didn't really seem possible. I'm going to break it all down with the 10 main reasons. The 10 reasons Michael B. Jordan won the Academy Award. Let's start with reason number one. This is the most important reason of all, I think. His victory at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, also now known as the Actor Awards, in Best Actor. If Michael B. Jordan had not won Best Actor at SAG, he would not have won the Oscar. He needed to take something. Close to the Oscar, some people were predicting Leonardo DiCaprio to take Best Actor for one battle after another, and I was like, but he hasn't won anything. In this day and age, it is very tricky to win the Oscar if you've been nominated everywhere, going back to January, and you don't win something, especially BAFTA or SAG. Those are the two big ones. Especially because, before March 1st, Jordan had not won a major televised prize yet. That moment needed to happen, and it couldn't have happened at a better time, right in the midst of Oscar voting. It could not have had more fanfare from the presenter on the stage, Viola Davis. I mean, she went wild when she announced his win. It was something I'm sure a lot of fans of Jordan and the movie Sinners were waiting for, were hoping for. He can't win at Critics' Choice, the Globes, and BAFTA. We get to the last big televised ceremony before the Oscars. This is his make-it-or-break-it moment. He had to win there, and then the huge eruption of applause in the room. Everyone jumped to their feet. That was a massive standing ovation for Jordan. Everyone was so happy for him. He gave the perfect speech, very humble, very generous to his fellow actors, everyone involved with Sinners. That was a moment, and it was like, okay, he's probably winning the Oscar now. Best Actor is kind of up for grabs. We had a different winner at BAFTA. We had two other winners at the Globes, and someone at Critics' Choice that wasn't Jordan, and there was so much confusion in Best Actor there for a few weeks. It just made sense near the end, Jordan was going to pull it off. He had to win at SAG, and that incredible and memorable SAG victory and speech is the number one reason, I think, that led to his Oscar victory. Reason number two was that he was in one of the two biggest films of the year. One battle after another was number one, given that it took Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars, but Sinners was right there, winning four Oscars in total, including Best Score and Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography, which was kind of a surprise. It just seemed like going into the night, even if Sinners didn't overperform, win Picture, Director, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, it didn't win, like, a ton of things. It made sense Sinners was going to take one acting prize. And if it wasn't Delroy Lindo in Supporting Actor, or Wunmi Mosaku in Supporting Actress, it had to be Michael B. Jordan in Actor. I do think that would have been a bad look. It would have been weird if Sinners had not taken anything in Acting. So as we got close to Best Actor, I was like, there's no way it's Chalamet or one of those other three. I think it has to be Michael B. Jordan, and it was. Sinners was just way too strong of a film to go empty-handed in the acting categories, especially after Jordan's win at SAG and the movie taking Best Cast at SAG. Like, it also won Cast. And so that would have just felt kind of anticlimactic. Sinners only takes Original Screenplay and Score. Cinematography, of course, was an awesome moment. But Sinners only taking three? That wouldn't have felt right. At least it won four. At least it also won Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan. Reason number three was him playing twin roles in Sinners. That was very impressive. I remember watching that opening night and just, like, really recognizing how hard that must have been to play two different roles, two guys who kind of look the same but act differently throughout the movie. In the second half, one is good and the other is evil. You always know who is who, who is Smoke, who is Stack. Long dialogue scenes where Jordan is essentially talking to himself, and it's all seamless, all believable. That was very impressive about his performance. That's, like, the main thing, I think, in that movie with him that really popped. Him playing twins, dual roles, all throughout the film. I do think him playing twins was also a huge factor as to why he won the Oscar. Reason number four is that Michael B. Jordan has a strong body of work behind him. It's not like he's brand new to the cinema scene. He'd been in a few movies the last five to seven years. He has been around a long time in both film and TV. Like, he is incredible on The Wire, which was more than 20 years ago. He sticks out in a very memorable way in that first season. He is fantastic on Friday Night Lights, one of the greatest shows of that era, working alongside Jesse Plemons. So that moment right as Michael B. Jordan was walking off the Oscar stage, and, like, he recognized Plemons, and they kind of pointed at each other. I really loved that moment. It goes all the way back to Friday Night Lights. And then his feature film career. I mean, his best work, I would say, is with Ryan Coogler, starting with Fruitvale Station 2013, Creed 2015. He's made three Creed films to date, and he is fantastic in all of them. He directed the third one, which was really impressive. He is also phenomenal as the villain in Black Panther. I thought he deserved an Oscar nomination for Black Panther. I think that would have aged really well. I was bummed it didn't happen. At least it won Best Cast at SAG. The cast of that film had their moment there. But yeah, Michael B. Jordan has been doing consistently great work for more than 20 years. It's not like he came out of nowhere. Even though this was his very first Oscar nomination, it wasn't his second or his third. He wasn't overdue or anything. He is a movie star. He has that movie star charisma. It's that kind of performance in Sinners, the kind of person we really like, that just makes sense to win an Oscar. You look at that body of work, and it is so outstanding. In both movies and television, going back more than 20 years, it was more than enough for Academy members to say, yes, he has done enough leading up to Sinners for us to recognize this is a great moment to give him an Academy Award. Reason number five is that Michael B. Jordan is a respected and humble person, too. He's not someone who gets under anyone's skin, over-promoting himself week after week, month after month, giving any Academy member the impression that he wants that Oscar trophy too much, that he thinks it's his time, that he's giving this impression that, if you guys don't give me the Oscar this time, I'm going to throw a fit. There is never any of that with Michael B. Jordan. Every time I see him in an interview or up on a stage, you know, accepting a trophy, he is so humble. He is so thankful. There is zero arrogance to him. I mean, at least of everything I've seen. Maybe behind closed doors, it's a different story or something. In terms of his public persona, every single thing I've seen of Michael B. Jordan going back many, many years, he just seems like the kindest person. Someone who puts his head down, works really hard, does projects he believes in, gives them his all every time out. He just keeps building this impressive filmography, gets to Sinners, does some of his finest work ever, and it's like, yeah, why not give it to Michael B. Jordan? We respect him. He is humble. He is not bragging everywhere how great he is. He is just a very lovely, kind person doing phenomenal work in not just one role in Sinners, two roles. Yeah, that's another reason why he won. Reason number six, it's time to talk about Timothee Chalamet, right? You knew this was coming. Speaking of arrogance, I guess, you know, we got to talk about what went wrong here. Timothee Chalamet's crumbling awards campaign at the end, like that was another big reason Michael B. Jordan won, was that Chalamet just could not pull it off in the end. It seemed in those early weeks, this was Chalamet's Oscar to lose. There were so many factors. First of all, he came very close to winning the Oscar for Best Actor a year ago for A Complete Unknown. So even though he's young, he's 30, there was a little bit of an overdue narrative to him, that he almost won a year ago. And then you get to December and he is promoting Marty Supreme everywhere and it works. This original period sports drama opening on Christmas Day, it could have tanked or at least underperformed at the box office. It was a huge hit. Everyone showed up to see Marty Supreme in the theater. It made over a hundred million dollars. And it was like mainly off of Timothee Chalamet's name. His promotion worked, whether you liked it or not, it got the word out about his movie. And it's also an incredible film. It's not just that Chalamet got people into the seats. He also delivered with an incredible performance in an amazing movie. I gave a 10 out of 10, called it a masterpiece. It was in my top five films of 2025. I love Marty Supreme with my full heart. And audiences loved it too. Critics adored it. Going into January, it wasn't just the Chalamet performance we were all talking about. It was a lot of factors with that movie. And then he wins best actor at those first two big televised ceremonies. Critics' Choice was up first on January 4th. And then he also won in best actor in the comedy musical category at the Golden Globes on January 11th. He had two prizes right there at the start of award season. And it just seemed like as long as he takes BAFTA, as long as his movie is in like picture and director and stuff at the Oscars, it's probably his moment. Even though he's 30. Even though he's vastly younger than everyone else in the best actor category. He was probably going to win. He was just too strong. His movie was so great. But then... But then everything came crumbling down. I would say first off with his loss at BAFTA. That was kind of unexpected. Most of us were predicting him to win that. He didn't. Now he lost to someone who wasn't even nominated at the Oscars. Robert Aramayo for I Swear. His film is not eligible at the Oscars until next year. So I was like well maybe that doesn't mean anything. Maybe Chalamet was in a close second. But then we got to SAG and I was making the argument. I don't think Chalamet wins at SAG because he won there a year ago for a complete unknown. They're not going to give him two in a row. I just didn't buy it. And so yeah Michael B. Jordan wins there. And going into the Oscars Chalamet is looking very vulnerable. But going beyond a couple big losses in best actor. That was part of it. Another big thing was his arrogance. Was the vibes he put off for many many weeks. I would say like starting in December leading into February. This vibe in like almost every interview he was in. When he was doing his like week-long retrospective of all of his movies. Chatting with many famous people on the stage. As if this is his final stretch until his coronation. It is my year to win my Oscar now for best actor. And enough Academy members. Enough people. Were like whoa whoa whoa wait a second here. Like you are getting too cocky Mr. Chalamet. This is not in the bag for you. Marty Supreme as it turned out. Even though it did very well in nominations. Wasn't everyone's favorites in many of those top categories. To be competitive to win. Like you couldn't win anything at BAFTA. And at the Oscars as it turned out. It could not win anything there either. It was kind of a Banshees of Venice Sheeran problem. TAR. Killers of the Flower Moon. These movies that like at the beginning of the season are very beloved. But they can't win anything at the Oscars. That was Marty Supreme's problem as well. If Timothee Chalamet was in the movie that won Best Picture and Best Director. I think Chalamet would have won. But because Marty Supreme couldn't take a single prize at the Oscars. He was going to struggle because of that reason too. I just think this was a very strange circumstance. Where all of the promotion he did for Marty Supreme. It got butts in the seats in theaters all around the country. But his behavior in that promotion did turn a lot of people off. Including awards voters. And he tried to walk that back. You can see him try to be humble when he wins a Critics Choice in the Globes. But it didn't feel authentic. Right? It wasn't just me. It felt like oh okay. Now I just I have to be kind. And oh thank you so much. And thank my fellow nominees. And it's like no. The real Timothee Chalamet was the guy promoting Marty Supreme everywhere in December. Was the guy holding all of these town halls for many many days. Screening all of his best movies. And saying look at me. It is time for me to win my Oscar. As he had said at SAG the year before. He wanted to be one of the greats. And like I admired elements of that speech he gave at SAG. When he won for a complete unknown. But that also rubbed people the wrong way. It kind of started there. And then it led into the promotion of Marty Supreme. And then into his two big wins early in the season. And I just think enough people were like. We don't have to give it to him yet. He's only 30. That was another big problem for Chalamet. Is that he was just a little too young. The youngest Best Actor Oscar winner still in history. Is Adrian Brody at age 29 for The Pianist. Academy members do not like to give Best Actor wins to younger people. Michael B. Jordan isn't that much older. But he's 39. He's almost 40. That's more of the sweet spot. Like late 30s. Early 40s. That's better when you want to win Best Actor at the Oscars. 30 years old. They're going to make you wait. I was like. If Chalamet stumbles anywhere here. If he loses at BAFTA. If he loses at SAG. If he says the wrong thing. He doesn't come off well. He needed to sweep the season I think. To win Best Actor. Like he needed to be the most obvious choice. And no one could overtake him. That didn't happen. He very much stumbled along the way. Especially missing at BAFTA and SAG. It's like. Is he going to win the Oscar with only Golden Globe and Critics Choice. Which was like over two months ago. With his movie kind of fading. And yes. With his public persona maybe not being the best. Disparaging the ballet and the opera. Which he was made fun of for many many days. Like from Steven Spielberg. For many people on the Oscar stage. Like Conan O'Brien. One of the live action winners. You know. Kind of poked fun at Chalamet. The thing is those comments from Chalamet. Did not go viral until the day after Oscar voting closed. Oscar voting ended on Thursday March 5th. And then his statements went viral on Friday March 6th. I remember seeing it all over Twitter. It was everywhere by like the second half of that Friday. And then I saw so many things going into Oscars night. Well that thing he said about the ballet and the opera. I don't think he's gonna win now. Nobody really knew of that. Until after Oscar voting had ended. So I don't think that played a role. Chalamet was going to lose the Oscar for Best Actor this year. Whether he had said those things about the ballet and the opera. Or he didn't. So yeah. Timothy Chalamet. Who in January appeared to be the frontrunner for Best Actor. Appeared to be the person who was going to win in that category. At the 98th Academy Awards. His crumbling campaign allowed someone else to rise to the surface. And that was Michael B. Jordan. Reason number seven was that Wagner Mora's film The Secret Agent. Just couldn't come on strong enough to get him over the edge to a win in Best Actor at the Oscars. I thought of him as the dark horse. I made a video saying maybe it's him. Maybe we are underestimating Wagner Mora. He did win the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama. That wasn't nothing. His film was in Best Picture. It had a very good chance of winning Best International Feature. Maybe it was just going to be Wagner Mora in an upsets. But the main problem with him as I talked about in that video. Was that he wasn't even nominated at SAG or BAFTA. He had the similar problem Fernanda Torres had for I'm Still Here the year before. Wins at the Globes. Gets in at the Oscars. But isn't at BAFTA or SAG. And that is just tricky. If you're not even nominated at those two huge ceremonies. Like if you're not even nominated there. How can you truly compete to win the Oscar? That was Wagner Mora's problem. I mean the Best Picture nomination was a huge help. But it wasn't in director. It wasn't in screenplay. They didn't go nuts for the secret agent on Oscar nominations morning. So it was going to be tricky. Best Actor had to be really fragmented. Like we had to have someone win at BAFTA. Who was maybe like DiCaprio or Hawk. And then Jordan at SAG. And then it's like man who's gonna win. And then maybe Wagner Mora could have risen to the surface. Gotten just enough votes to pull off the near impossible. But it couldn't happen going into the night. It seemed like if it wasn't going to be Jordan. It was probably going to be Chalamet. Wagner Mora even though that moment at the Oscars would have been incredible. I would have jumped to my feet. I would have applauded. I would have loved that win. I do think he was always hovering around third place. Reason number eight is that Leonardo DiCaprio just couldn't win anything all season. It's weird when you look back and see just how strong one battle after another was. Winning Best Picture and Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay everywhere all season. That movie could not miss. Its only big loss really the entire season was Best Cast at SAG which went to Sinners. One battle took everything else. And it's interesting because DiCaprio is so freaking great in that movie. He is fantastic in one battle after another. A beloved actor whose career is like practically unmatched going back to the 1990s. He's one of our very best. He got in everywhere. Nominated at BAFTA and SAG and the Oscars. And it's like one battle after another it takes six prizes on Oscars night. It takes Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay. And DiCaprio can't win. It's like it's really interesting to me. You'd think he might have won at BAFTA. Maybe a surprise win at SAG. I mean I think the problem with DiCaprio. Two big problems. His character is not really the star of one battle after another. He is part of an ensemble of characters and storylines and that. I think that might have hurt him a little bit. Giving a more comedic performance than he usually does. And the other big problem was he already had an Oscar. He won Best Actor a decade ago for The Revenant. So he already had one. Did we have to give him a second when we could give like a Chalamet or a Jordan their very first win? I think that was maybe the biggest problem with DiCaprio. He just like he's gonna win another one someday. Probably in the next 10 to 15 years. But I don't think the Academy was quite ready yet to give DiCaprio his second victory. So he has to continue to wait. Reason number nine is that the other person in the Best Actor category, Ethan Hawke for Blue Moon, just could not catch a break. He is so great in that film. It's one of my favorite nominated performances of the year. But it's kind of a small movie. It only got into Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars. That wasn't great. If Blue Moon had gotten a surprise Best Picture nomination, like maybe he would have had more of a shot. But yeah he needed to win something big along the way. A big win at BAFTA. Especially a big win at SAG. What if instead of Michael B. Jordan at SAG, the victory and Best Actor there had gone to Ethan Hawke for Blue Moon? Then what would have happened? Who would have won the Oscar? That would have been very interesting and suspenseful. I don't really know. You know Jordan had to win something if he wasn't winning at SAG. He wasn't going to win the Oscar. Would Ethan Hawke have beaten Timothy Chalamet? Maybe. But Blue Moon wasn't very strong. So that would have been a fascinating showdown. I don't know what would have happened. Maybe it would have been Chalamet in the end. We'll never know. But because Ethan Hawke just wasn't very competitive, he couldn't take a major prize in the televised ceremonies, he also wasn't really a factor on Oscars nights. And so it was like well if it's not Hawke, it's not DiCaprio, it's probably not Mora. And then you have Chalamet who's just been shooting himself in the foot it seems like the last few weeks. It had to be Jordan. And it was. Because the 10th and final reason Michael B. Jordan won the Oscar for Best Actor for Sinners is that he gave one of the great performances of 2025, physically and emotionally demanding dual roles. It is a great performance, a memorable performance, a captivating performance. And for him to win a Best Actor Oscar trophy for a horror film. I will always celebrate that. Horror gets recognized here and there. But often not in the acting categories at the Academy Awards. It happened in two acting categories this year which was awesome. We're going to get to Amy Madigan's Oscar win video in just a few days. So stay tuned for that. When it comes to the Best Actor Oscar win this year for Michael B. Jordan, I am all for it. I think it's fantastic. He might not have been my choice in the category. There might have been a couple other performances I would have liked to have seen won. I think his victory is very well deserved. It's going to age extremely well. He should have had more nominations up until this point. At least two I would say before his nomination for Sinners. And now he has the win. So freaking awesome. And what a great speech he gave. One of the best of the night. Everybody at home who supported Sinners, who went to go see the movie once, twice, three, four, five times. Thank you. Because you guys made this movie what it is. I love you. Academy Award winner Michael B. Jordan. I don't know about you, but I love the sound of that. It wasn't sewn up for him. He had a lot of losses earlier in the season. He couldn't win at Critics' Choice. He couldn't win at BAFTA. He didn't even win at the Globes. Like in a category Chalamet and DiCaprio weren't even in. That prize went to Wagner Mora for The Secret Agents. So it seemed like maybe he would just get his first nomination this year at the Oscars. He wouldn't win. Maybe he'd be back in the next few years. But no, he didn't have to wait. He had that amazing moment at SAG that brought the house down. And then two weeks later, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. I love it. This could not have happened to a better person in the industry. Michael B. Jordan is so talented. He's so humble and respected. He gave a beautiful performance in Sinners. And now he is, as he should be, an Oscar winner.