The82ndGolden Globe Awardshad several major surprises and snubs. Held at the historic Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, the2025 Golden Globes were hosted bycomedian and television host Nikki Glaser. Glaser was recently a standoutguest on Netflix’sThe Roast of Tom Brady. Early presenters at the Globes included Dwayne Johnson, Demi Moore, Ke Huy Quan, Kathy Bates, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Miles Teller. Among thebiggest Golden Globe predicted movie winnersareThe Brutalist,Anora,Emila Perez, andConclave.
The night opened with predictable winners in the Female Supporting Actor and Female Actor in a Television Series, which went to Zoe Saldaña and Jean Smart, respectively. Hiroyuki Sanada ofShōgunbrought home the Best Actor in a Television Drama award after winning the Emmy in the same category last year. Jeremy Allen White won his third Best Actor Golden Globe for his celebrated performance inThe Bear. Other expected winners includeEmilia Perezwinning Best Original Song with one of its two category nominations and Sebastien Stan winning one of his two Best Actor nominations forA Different Man(the other beingThe Apprentice).
The Brutalisttook home several of the biggest awards of the night, securing Best Picture, Best Director - Motion Picture, Drama for Brady Corbet, and Best Actor - Motion Picture, Drama for Adrien Brody. On the television side, Emmy winnersShōgunandBaby Reindeerreturned to take the top prizes. Anna Sawai repeated her Emmy win for her role as Lady Mariko while Colin Farrell picked up his second Golden Globe forThe Penguinafter winning his first for 2022’sThe Banshees of Inisherin. The complete list of2025 Golden Globes winnershighlights the night’s biggest victories, setting the stage for the 97th Oscars on June 10, 2025.
8Kieran Culkin Wins Best Supporting Actor, Drama Over Denzel Washington
The first major surprise of the 2025 Golden Globes was Kieran Culkin’s win over Denzel Washington’s role in Ridley Scott’sGladiator II. Although Culkin is an Emmy winner for his iconic role inSuccession, this Golden Globe win marks his first major award for a feature film. Leading up to awards season, Washington was one of, if not the, top contenders to take home the Supporting Actor award. Culkin’s win is more of a pleasant surprise than a snub, placing him in a strong position to earn his first Academy Award nomination at the upcoming Oscars for his role in the Jesse Eisenberg film,A Real Pain.
Even though this surprise came early at the 2025 Golden Globes, it just may be the most significant one of the entire night. Washington was nearly considered a lock for the award whenGladiator IIwas first released in late November 2024. This and Cinematic & Box Office Achievement were the only two awards that Gladiator II was nominated for at the Golden Globes. A win for Washington would have made a strong case for him to win his third acting Oscar in March, which would place him in an elite category alongside Daniel Day-Lewis, Meryl Streep, and Jack Nicholson.
7Tadanobu Asano Wins Best Supporting Actor, TV Over Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Moments after Emmy-winner Liza Colón-Zayas lost the Best Female Supporting Actor Award toBaby Reindeer’sJessica Gunning, another Emmy-winning actor fromThe Bearlost in the Best Male Supporting Actor category. Tadanobu Asano ofShōgunbeat Ebon Moss-Bachrach to take home his first career Golden Globe Award. Since Moss-Bachrach won back-to-back Emmys for his role as Richie inThe Bear, he was certainly a favorite to win at the 2025 Golden Globes after coming up short last year. Tadanobu Asano plays Kashigi Yabushige inShōgunbut has not been confirmed for its upcoming seasons.
6Emilia Perez Wins Best Non-English Film Over All We Imagine As Light
Emilia Perezhad a lot of momentum going into the 2025 Golden Globes, which started back in May 2024 after it won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It’s not entirely surprising that it ended up winning Best Non-English Language Film after it was released on Netflix on August 22, 2025 and earned a Rotten Tomatoes score of 76%. One film in the category, however, earned a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes score but still lost toEmila Perezat the Golden Globes. That film wasAll We Imagine as Lightout of France, India, and the United States, which was written and directed by Payal Kapadia.
Zoe Saldaña Looks Like An Oscar-Winning Frontrunner After The 2025 Golden Globes
Zoe Saldaña won the tight Best Supporting Actress race with Ariana Grande at the Golden Globes, making the same result at the Oscars seem likely.
Emilia Perezwas one of the biggest winners of the night, winning four of its 10 nominations, including Best Supporting Actress, Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy for Zoe Saldaña, Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, and Best Original Song for “El Mal”. While Karla Sofía Gascón did not win the award for Best Female Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, she did make history by becoming the first openly trans woman to receive a Golden Globe nomination.
5Demi Moore Wins Best Actress, Musical Or Comedy Over Anora’s Mikey Madison
Demi Moore’s outstanding performance inThe Substanceearned her a career-first Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, Musical or Comedy. Moore had previously been nominated for 1990’sGhostand 1996’sIf These Walls Could Talk, which also earned her an Emmy nomination. Moore surprisingly won over Mikey Madison’s breakout performance in Sean Baker’sAnora, which is widely considered one of the best films of the year. Madison and Moore are likely to battle it out in the Best Actress category once again at the 2025 Oscars in March.
Demi Moore Can Absolutely Win The 2025 Best Actress Oscar Now
Demi Moore just won a Golden Globe for The Substance, and it means she can absolutely win the 2025 Oscar for Best Actress in the coming weeks.
Similar to Denzel Washington’s situation, Mikey Madison was at the top of many awards-season charts ever since her film,Anora, got its wide release in theaters in October 2024. WhileThe Substancewas released back in September, the film has gained traction on social media and with critics who hail it as not only one of the best horror movies of the year but simply one of the best films. After Moore’s big win tonight, she has surprisingly become a frontrunner in the Oscar race, which would also put her up against Cynthia Erivo’s performance fromWicked.
4Flow Wins Best Animated Feature Over Inside Out 2 & The Wild Robot
One of the most stunning winners of the night arrived in the Best Animated Feature category.Flow, directed by Gints Zilbalodis of Latvia, beat out heavy animated hittersInside Out 2,Moana 2, andThe Wild Robot.Flowmade less than $7 million at the worldwide box office at the time of writing, compared to the chart-topping $1.68 billion ofInside Out 2.Flowis tied withThe Wild Robotin terms of Rotten Tomatoes score at 97% and is now poised to make a run at the Best Animated Feature Oscar race in March.
3Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross Win Best Original Score Over Dune: Part Two’s Hans Zimmer
While Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have become an iconic force in cinematic scores and soundtracks since their groundbreaking work on David Fincher’sThe Social Network, Hans Zimmer arguably deserved to take home the Best Original Score award forDune: Part Two. While Dune: Part Two only received a few nominations at the 2025 Golden Globes, it was likely to win in this category if any at all. This was the third win and sixth Best Original Score Golden Globe nomination for Atticus and Ross. While some may call this a snub, theChallengerssoundtrack is inarguably a crucial part of the movie, which was also underrepresented at the ceremony.
2Wicked Wins Best Cinematic & Box Office Achievement Over Highest Grossing Blockbusters
In the newest Golden Globe category that was just instated in 2023,Wickedupset the two highest-grossing movies of the year to win Best Cinematic & Box Office Achievement. While the first-ever award went to 2023’s highest-grossing filmBarbie, this year’s went toWicked, which was the sixth highest-grossing movie of 2024. This establishes that the new award will not simply go to the year’s highest-grossing movie, which would have gone toInside Out 2by that metric.Inside Out 2andDeadpool & Wolverinewere the only two films that grossed more than $1 billion in 2024, butWickedtook home the award for reasons that aren’t entirely clear.
According to the Golden Globes organizer, Dick Clark Productions, the Golden Globe for Best Cinematic & Box Office Achievement goes to “the year’s most acclaimed, highest-earning and/or most viewed films that have garnered extensive global audience support and attained cinematic excellence.“Wickedwas the third highest-grossing film in the United States last year, but it is interesting that neither of Disney’s top 2 performers of 2024 took home the award based on their numbers.
1Fernanda Torres Wins Best Actress, Drama Over Maria’s Angelina Jolie
The final big surprise of the 2025 Golden Globes was Fernanda Torres winning over Angelina Jolie’s performance as Maria Callas in Netflix’sMaria. Torres received her first Golden Globe win and nomination for her role inI’m Still Here, which was also nominated for Best Non-Enlgish film earlier in the night. Considering that Jolie actually sang in her transformative role as international star and opera singer Maria Callas, she was thought to be one of the favorites heading into the ceremony. Torres announced that she didn’t prepare a speech when she accepted her Golden Globe award.
Does Angelina Jolie Actually Sing In Maria?
Netflix’s 2024 biopic Maria features several original recordings by Maria Callas, some of which are performed by Academy Award-winner Angelina Jolie.
Before the 2024 Golden Globes, Torres was not considered to be in top 5 contention for the Best Actress Oscar race.Varietycurrently has her projected in eighth place behind Madison, Moore, Gascón, and even Jolie. Similarly,The Hollywood Reporterplaces Torres within the top 10 but outside of the top 5. While Jolie’s chances are not completely smothered by Torres' unexpected win at the82nd Golden Globe Awards, the path to her earning her second Oscar, and first nomination since 2008, just became more difficult.
Golden Globes
The Golden Globes is an awards show acknowledging the best of American and international film and television. In 2024, the event was held in Beverly Hills, CA, on August 07, 2025, and aired on CBS. The 2024 Golden Globes was hosted by stand-up comedian Jo Koy.
