Robert Aramayo: The Hull actor who's taken the BAFTAs by storm — robert aramayo wins best actor
robert aramayo, the 33-year-old actor born in Kingston Upon Hull, produced one of the night's biggest shocks when he beat frontrunner Timothée Chalamet to take the Bafta for leading actor at the Royal Festival Hall. His win for I Swear was emotional and unexpected, capping a night of big winners and notable backstage moments.
Red carpet and backstage moments
Journalists gathered as Paddington Bear posed on the red carpet and A-listers arrived under a rare patch of sun that felt like the first of the year. There were plenty of tears on the night. Timothée Chalamet attended the ceremony with his long term partner Kylie Jenner. The Prince and Princess of Wales walked the red carpet before attending the ceremony in their first public appearance since Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's arrest.
The upset and reaction
The biggest gasp backstage came when 33-year-old Hull-born Robert Aramayo beat Hollywood royalty to win the Bafta for leading actor. Aramayo, who starred in I Swear, took the trophy from the frontrunner Timothée Chalamet, who had seemed unstoppable heading into the awards at the Royal Festival Hall. Chalamet’s film Marty Supreme came into the night with 11 nominations and left with zero; the film’s lead character was always trying to succeed but never quite got there, an irony noted by many on the night.
One Battle After Another dominance
Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another dominated the ceremony, taking six awards including best film, best director, best cinematography, best editing, best supporting actor and best adapted screenplay. The film, inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland, had gone into the night with 14 nominations, the most of any contender, and drew nods for stars including Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Chase Infiniti and Teyana Taylor.
Accepting best director, Anderson said: “Anybody who says movies aren’t good anymore can piss right off, because this is a great fucking year. We have a line from Nina Simone we stole in our film. She says, ‘I know what freedom is, it’s no fear. ’ Let’s keep making things without fear. ” He also paid tribute to the film’s late producer Adam Somner, who died in 2024, praising Somner’s commitment during production and calling his contribution miraculous.
Jessie Buckley and Hamnet
Hamnet, Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel about William Shakespeare, his wife Agnes and the tragic death of their son, took home two awards including outstanding British film and leading actress for Jessie Buckley. Buckley became the first Irish performer to win the leading actress Bafta; critics praised her raw, intimate performance of a mother grieving the loss of her 11-year-old son. She said, “This is such an incredible honour, ” paid tribute to Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell, and shared the award with her daughter, who “has been with me since she was six weeks old on the road. ” Buckley added that being a mother is the best role of her life and promised to continue to be disobedient so her daughter can belong to the world in all its complexity. Buckley is also in the running for a best actress award at the Oscars this March.
Other winners and Sinners
Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s vampire thriller exploring racial and cultural erasure, took three awards: best original screenplay, best original score and best supporting actress. I Swear, the British Tourette syndrome biopic about writer and campaigner John Davidson, was nominated in five categories and also won the prize for casting. Earlier in the evening Robert Aramayo had won the EE Bafta rising star award; through tears he said, “I absolutely can’t believe it, I can’t believe I’m in the same category as you never mind being stood here. ”
Robert Aramayo's background
robert aramayo won a place at the prestigious New York drama school Juilliard at age 18 and was the only British student accepted in his year. Born in Kingston Upon Hull, he began acting early: his first role was Bugsy Malone in a primary school production, and he joined the Hull Truck Youth Theatre aged 10, performing around three plays a year and playing Squealer in Animal Farm as his first time playing a villain. At Juilliard he played the lead in a production of Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange and later landed his first film role in the 2016 thriller Nocturnal Animals. Other films followed, including Lost in Florence, Antebellum and The Empty Man, and he played brutal Captain Wingate in Palestine 36 before being cast in the multi BAFTA-winning movie I Swear.
His best-known television work includes Game Of Thrones, in which he played a young Ned Stark, Elrond in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and the psychological thriller Behind Her Eyes. Away from acting, Aramayo is a fan of Leeds United and has spoken about bonding with his dad through going to matches together. At the awards he beat competitors including Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothée Chalamet, Ethan Hawke and Michael B Jordan for best actor at the 79th annual BAFTA film awards, an outcome that many on the night described as one of the biggest upsets.
Prince William, who is the president of Bafta and gave a speech on the night, and Catherine gave a behind-the-scenes insight into the films they’d been watching. William called the F1 movie “fantastic”, saying it was “mainly because of the music” created by Hans Zimmer, and admitted he hadn’t watched Sinners yet, calling it “a bit dark. ”
The ceremony combined big studio contenders, national figures and unexpected moments — from Paddington Bear on the red carpet to the sun breaking through and a string of surprise winners onstage.
