The 2026 Oscars nominees luncheon at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on Tuesday, February 10, offered a rare, exciting moment among some of the year’s fiercest competition: true‑life hugs, shared laughter, and wide‑eyed disbelief rather than polished speeches. Actors such as Emma Stone and Teyana Taylor arrived in full tuxedo‑chic and shimmering silk, but the most talked‑about moments came from the quiet way the nominees greeted one another like old comrades‑in‑arms.

Emma Stone, Kate Hudson, and the buzz

Emma Stone, nominated for Best Actress for her performance in Bugonia, appeared in a sharp black tuxedo‑style gown and heels, cocktail in hand, and her yellow Oscar‑nominee name tag gleaming under the ballroom lights. Across the room, fellow Best Actress contender Kate Hudson, also recognized for her role in Song Sung Blue, floated in a bright red silk dress finished with black leather gloves, turning the lounge into something halfway between a red carpet and a long‑overdue family reunion. Photographs from inside the Beverly Hilton show nominees swapping stories in corners, while a full‑cast group portrait captured the mix of nerves, excitement, and outright joy that had traveled from separate film sets into one crowded ballroom.

Teyana Taylor’s “fairytale” moment

First‑time nominee Teyana Taylor, up for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Perfedia Beverly Hills in One Battle After Another, stood out in a sheer‑paneled black skirt layered under a sequined black coat, her whole posture radiating disbelief. At the luncheon, she was photographed holding tight conversations with fellow contenders such as Jacob Elordi (‘Frankenstein’) and Wagner Moura (‘The Secret Agent’), moments that underlined how rare it can feel to share the same ballot with peers.In an earlier statement that many guests had clearly read, Teyana Taylor described her Best Supporting Actress nomination as a “fairytale ending,” according to ABC News, “I fell asleep last night watching Pretty Woman, thinking about happy endings and how impossible they sometimes feel … and I woke up realizing I’ve been living in one that God has been preparing me for my own fairytale ending.” She added, “I am so deeply emotional, so humbled, and so grateful for every person who has walked this road with me & honored to be nominated alongside these amazing women in my category.”On a statement circulated through her team, she said, “To be an Academy Award nominee is beyond anything I ever allowed myself to fully believe was possible,” and later called the nod a “gentle reminder that dreams really do survive … today feels like a soft, beautiful ‘yes’ from the universe.” She then thanked director Paul Thomas Anderson, calling the experience one that had changed her “heart, life, and spirit,” and promised to dedicate the moment not to herself but to the people who had lifted her along the way.

A room full of stories

The luncheon also focused attention on other high‑profile names such as Michael B. Jordan and writer‑director Ryan Coogler, both nominated for their work on the film ‘Sinners’, as well as Best Actress nominee Rose Byrne, whose Golden Globe‑winning turn in ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’ has already redrawn how awards‑season fans view her range. Timothée Chalamet, Elle Fanning, Jessie Buckley, Steven Spielberg, Benicio del Toro, and songwriter Diane Warren were all seen catching up in small clusters, their banter balancing the gravity of Oscar shortlists with the casual ease of colleagues who have lived through the same long shoot days and nerve‑racking press‑junket circuits.With the Oscars themselves set for March 15, the 2026 nominees luncheon served less like a polished industry pageant and more like a warm-up rehearsal for that night: a chance to say, out loud, how much it meant to simply be in the same room with one another, and on the same ballot.