Wagner Moura Becomes First Brazilian to Win Best Actor in a Drama at the Golden Globes
- - Wagner Moura Becomes First Brazilian to Win Best Actor in a Drama at the Golden Globes
Tommy McArdle, Jack SmartJanuary 12, 2026 at 5:17 AM
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Wagner Moura wins at the 2026 Golden Globe Awards -
Wagner Moura won the Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture in the Drama category at the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, Jan. 11
"If trauma can be passed along generations, values can too," the Secret Agent star said in his acceptance speech
Fellow nominees included Joel Edgerton (Train Dreams), Oscar Isaac (Frankenstein), Dwayne Johnson (The Smashing Machine), Michael B. Jordan (Sinners) and Jeremy Allen White (Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere)
Wagner Moura is making history at the Golden Globe Awards!
Taking the stage at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on Sunday, Jan. 11 to accept the prize for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama), the Secret Agent star became the first Brazilian ever to win in the category.
Thanking those who made the film and calling his fellow nominees "extraordinary," Moura, 49, said, "The Secret Agent is a film about memory, or the lack of memory, and generational trauma. I think that, if trauma can be passed along generations, values can too. So this is to the ones that are sticking with their values in difficult moments."
In The Secret Agent, the Narcos and Civil War star plays a former university professor named Armando attempting to evade political persecution by agents of Brazil's military dictatorship in 1977. Moura won the Cannes Film Festival's Best Actor award for his performance in the movie when it made its world premiere back in May. The movie's director Kleber Mondonça Filho also won Best Director at that festival.
Wagner Moura in The Secret Agent
Aside from Moura's nomination, The Secret Agent is also nominated for Best Motion Picture in the Drama category at the Globes and for Best Motion Picture in the Non-English Language category.
He was nominated alongside Joel Edgerton (Train Dreams), Oscar Isaac (Frankenstein), Dwayne Johnson (The Smashing Machine), Michael B. Jordan (Sinners) and Jeremy Allen White (Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere) were also nominated.
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Daniel Schaefer/BBP Train Dreams. LLC
Joel Edgerton in Train Dreams
Edgerton, 51, was nominated at the Golden Globe Awards for his role in Train Dreams as Robert Grainier, a man who spends his life living in the Pacific Northwest and working on railroads across the region at the turn of the 20th century. The movie is based on a novella of the same name by author Denis Johnson. It also costars Felicity Jones.
Train Dreams received one other nomination at the Golden Globes in the Best Original Song category. Edgerton was nominated for his role in the movie at the Critics Choice Awards on Jan. 4.
Ken Woroner / Netflix
Oscar Isaac in Frankenstein
Isaac, 46, portrays the title character Victor Frankenstein in Guillermo del Toro's adaptation of the classic 1818 Mary Shelley monster novel. The movie previously won four Critics Choice Awards on Jan. 4, including a win for Jacob Elordi in the Best Supporting Actor category. Elordi played Frankenstein's monster — known as the Creature — in this adaptation of the story, and he was also nominated at the Globes for his performance.
Frankenstein received five total nominations at this year's Golden Globes, including nods for Best Motion Picture (Drama), Best Original Score and Best Director for director del Toro. The movie also has three nominations at the upcoming Actor Awards on March 1.
Cheryl Dunn/A24
Dwayne Johnson in The Smashing Machine
Johnson, 53, was nominated for his dramatic turn as former mixed martial arts fighter Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine. The actor teamed up with writer-director Benny Safdie for the movie, which is based on a 2002 documentary on Kerr titled The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr; Johnson even gained roughly 30 lbs. of muscle for the part.
Warner Bros.
Michael B. Jordan as Smoke and Stack in Sinners
Jordan, 38, stars in Sinners in dual roles as twins Smoke and Stack, who return to their hometown in 1932 Mississippi after several years away to open a nightclub for Black patrons, only to see their opening night crashed by a vampire (Jack O'Connell) drawn to the musical talents of their cousin Sammie (Miles Caton).
Sinners is the third-most nominated movie at the Golden Globe Awards this year; writer-director Ryan Coogler was nominated for Best Director and Best Screenplay, and the movie also received nominations in the Best Motion Picture (Drama), Cinematic and Box Office Achievement and Best Original Score categories.
Macall Polay/20th Century Studios
Jeremy Allen White in Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
White, 34, portrays the legendary rock musician Bruce Springsteen in Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, based on the non-fiction book of the same title by author Warren Zanes. The movie depicts Springsteen in 1981 and 1982 as he develops material for his folk album Nebraska and grapples with the long-term effects of his complicated childhood with his father Douglas (Stephen Graham).
White is already a three-time Golden Globe winner for his starring role as chef Carmy Berzatto on the television comedy series The Bear.
See PEOPLE's coverage of the 83rd annual Golden Globe Awards, taking place at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on Sunday, Jan. 11 at 8 p.m. EST, airing on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
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