Wunmi Mosaku wins Bafta and speaks of 'ancestral power' after Sinners success
wunmi mosaku said she was "really shocked" after winning the Bafta for best supporting actress for her role as Annie in the film Sinners, a victory that made her the first black British winner of that category.
Wunmi Mosaku channels ancestral power on the winners' stage
The 39-year-old said she "found a part of myself in Annie, a part of my hopes, my ancestral power and connection, " adding she had discovered elements she thought she had "lost or tried to dim as an immigrant trying to fit in. " She said the response from black women — "feeling seen, loved, valued, treasured, and the power of our ancestry and the spirituality" — created an immediate kinship with people she had never met.
Sinners' awards run and the role that reignited her
Mosaku won for her portrayal of Annie, a Hoodoo priestess and the wife of Smoke (Michael B Jordan) in Ryan Coogler's Sinners, a film described as part musical, vampire thriller, romance epic and period drama set against the blues in a Jim Crow–era Mississippi Delta. In the 10 months since its release the film has been called an instant classic, has proved a box-office smash and critical darling, and inspired repeat viewings — Mosaku has met people who have seen the film more than 20 times. Sinners also won a Bafta for best original screenplay, and Mosaku has been tipped for an Oscar for her performance.
From Zaria to Manchester: the path Mosaku mapped out
Born in Nigeria and raised in Manchester, Mosaku moved with her family from the historic Nigerian city of Zaria to Manchester when she was a one-year-old baby. She recalled being inspired to act after watching the 1980s musical Annie "every single day after school, " and said she first learned about drama schools after searching the film's cast and finding that Salford-born actor Albert Finney, who played Daddy Warbucks, had trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Her Bafta win for Sinners arrives nine years after she won the same category at the TV Baftas for her role in the drama Damilola, Our Loved Boy, the drama about the death of 10-year-old Damilola Taylor, who was stabbed while walking home from a library in London. When that programme aired in 2016 she said: "I grew up on an estate in Manchester and people I've known from school have died in gang trouble and I always thought, 'If I'd been on a different estate at a different time, it could have been me'. "
Night-of awards: red carpet moments and the wider winners list
The Baftas night also named One Battle After Another best film, beating Hamnet and Sinners, while Robert Aramayo was named best actor for I Swear and Jessie Buckley won best actress for Hamnet. The show opened with a long list of films accompanied by a Goldfrapp song, and the red carpet included a montage of attendees, with one person threatening to vomit. Fashion notes included Wale Davies and Akinola Davies looking "seriously suave, " Teyana Taylor making a case for the red carpet trench and Archie Madekwe leaning into collars.
There were notable moments and reactions on the carpet: someone yelled "Is the monarchy in peril?" at Prince William during his walk; the official Bafta X feed showed Timothée Chalamet walking the red carpet; and Prince William said he thought One Battle After Another was "weird, " had not seen Sinners because it was "a bit dark, " and that he liked F1. Paul Mescal and singer Gracie Abrams, who have been dating since about 2024, hard-launched their relationship at the Baftas with a cheeky kiss; Mescal wore Prada and Abrams wore a beaded floral look from Chanel.
Personal notes and public life in a packed schedule
Mosaku described the week as day five of a "14-day week, " spoke from a hotel room while having hair and make-up done and laughed that she could not do an interview smoothly in those conditions. She is pregnant and said of her Bafta reaction: "I was like, 'That can't be right'. I was really shocked and I lost my breath and couldn't quite believe it. " She thanked her daughter at the ceremony, adding, "you are my greatest teacher. "
Her screen work spans television and film, with appearances in Luther and Black Mirror as well as Marvel movies, and she and Jack O'Connell have won praise for their roles in Sinners. Vogue noted she called upon an independent London designer for her BAFTAs gown and that she was trying to secure tickets to the play All My Sons at the Wyndham Theatre during the awards period.
wunmi mosaku has said of Sinners: "It’s about capitalism and it’s about the cost of freedom, " asking, "Do you stay in your truth… or do you go where the money is, where the power is?" She believes each viewing reveals something new.
It is unclear in the provided context what her next scheduled public appearance or project is.
