CT finds its way into Oscar-nominated movies for 2026

Connecticut can have some interesting connections to the international film world. The state has a reasonable number of film studios and production companies. It has some world-class theater programs, as well as well as world-class theaters.

Film stars from from the silent era (William Gillette) to the golden age of Hollywood (Katharine Hepburn, Paul Newman) to now (Paul Dano, The Rock) grew up or settled down in Connecticut.

Every year when nominations are announced for the Academy Awards, Connecticut comes up. The 2026 nominations, announced on Jan. 22, find the state very much in the mix as a place some nominees were born, where some grew up, where some went to college, where some started their professional careers in the theaters, where some have performed with their bands or as comedians and where some have had their work elsewhere live on in live tours that visited Connecticut.

Here’s an intriguing one: Paul Grimstad, a lecturer in Humanities at Yale, had acting roles in two of the movies nominated for Best Picture this year. Grimstad plays a production manager in “Marty Supreme” and the more sizable role of Sommerville in “One Battle After Another.”

Here are other ways Connecticut has found its way into Oscar-nominated movies this year:

Hannah Beachler, nominated for Production Design for “Sinners,” designed the lavish sets for the national tour of the musical “The Wiz” that played The Bushnell in Hartford last year.

Alexandre Desplat, nominated for Best Score for “Frankenstein,” has had some of his other film scores performed live in Connecticut. He composed the music for both parts of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” Hartford Symphony Orchestra accompanied a screening of the first part last year and will perform alongside Part Two on May 28 at 1 and 7 p.m. at The Bushnell.

Bryce Dessner, nominated with Nick Cave for Music (Original Song) for “Train Dreams” from the film of the same name, graduated from Yale College and 1998 and the Yale School of Music in 1999. In 2022, he was the named the inaugural artist-in-residence at Yale’s Schwarzman Center. He is a founding member of the band The National, which performed at Bridgeport’s Sound on Sound festival in 2022 and at the Westville Music Bowl in New Haven in 2023.

Leonard DiCaprio, nominated for Actor in a Leading Role for “One Battle after Another,” stayed in Connecticut while making the film “Revolutionary Road” on location in 2008 and has also spoken about climate change at Yale in 2017.

Dede Gardner, one of six co-producers nominated for Best Picture for “F1,” hosted a screening of another film she produced, “Women Talking,” at Yale in 2023.

Jonny Greenwood, nominated for Music (Original Score) for “One Battle After Another,” is a founding member of the band Radiohead. Radiohead performed at Toad’s Place in New Haven in 1995 and at the Meadows in Hartford in 1995 and 1996.  The roadway-themed cover of the Radiohead album “OK Computer” has been identified as the point where Interstate 84 and Interstate 91 meet in Hartford.

Ethan Hawke, nominated for Actor in a Leading Role for “Blue Moon,” plays Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart in the film. “Blue Moon” takes place in 1943 on the Broadway opening night of “Oklahoma!,” a massive hit for his former creative partner Richard Rodgers and his new lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. “Oklahoma!” had its pre-Broadway try-out at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven. Rodgers & Hart adapted the Mark Twain novel “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” as a musical in 1927. The success of “Oklahoma” made it a lucky theater for Rodgers & Hammerstein, who used it as the try-out house for most of their other projects together. Hawke has also had a Connecticut presence, including sheltering in New Milford with his family during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kate Hudson, nominated for Actress in a Leading Role for “Song Sung Blue,” starred two years ago in the film “Little White Lies,” based on a novel by Ridgefield author Chris Belden and directed by Bethlehem-based director Michael Maren.

Will Janowitz, one of six producers nominated for Best Picture for “Train Dreams,” is also an actor who starred in the 2006 drama “Bristol Boys,” based on a real-life drug dealing ring in Bristol.

Andrew Jarecki, nominated with Charlotte Kaufman for Documentary Feature Film, shot his 2010 mystery/romance “All Good Things,” starring Ryan Gosling and Kristen Dunst, in Connecticut.

Delroy Lindo, nominated for Actor in a Supporting Role for “Sinners,” appeared in Samm-Art Williams’ play “Home” at Hartford Stage in 1984.

Amy Madigan, nominated for Actress in a Supporting role for “Weapons,” has done a movie (“Lifeguard”) where her character dreams of returning to Connecticut and a play (David Rabe’s “Good for Otto”) set in a Connecticut mental health clinic.

Marissa McMahon, one of six producers nominated for Best Picture for “Train Dreams,” was raised in Greenwich.

Sheila Nevins, nominated for Documentary Feature for  “Children No More: Were and Are Gone” (which she co-produced with Hilla Medalia), graduated from Yale School of Drama (now the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale) in 1963. She lived for years in a mansion in Litchfield County which was sold in 2015. In 2014, she received a Visionary Leadership Award from New Haven’s International Festival of Arts & Ideas.

Tig Notaro, nominated for Best Documentary Feature for “Come See Me in the Good Light,” conceived and co-produced the film. She has performed in Connecticut numerous times, including as one of the first acts at the then-new College Street Music Hall in 2015 and as part of a Connecticut Forum “Laughter, Anyone?” panel at The Bushnell in 2017.

Mark Sonnenblick, nominated for Music (Original Song) for “Golden,” is listed among the seven songwriters credited for the song of the “KPop Demon Hunters” soundtrack. Sonnenblick graduated from Yale in 2012. While living in New Haven, he taught at an afterschool music program at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School.

Teyana Taylor, nominated for Actress in a Supporting Role for “One Battle After Another,” had a previous career as a pop artist. She was scheduled to perform a concert in Connecticut in 2021. When  she canceled the Mohegan Sun show just hours before it was to take place, citing exhaustion and other health issues, it made national news.

“Zootopia 2,” nominated for Animated Feature Film, features Bloomfield native Anika Noni Rose in the small role of the “Squeak of Fortune” mouse.

A complete list of the 2026 Academy Award nominations can be found at oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2026.