A surprising and historic moment took place during the Academy Awards when the 2026 ceremony saw an unusual tie in one of its categories. During the presentation of the Best Live Action Short Film award presenter Kumail Nanjiani announced that two films had received the exact same number of votes making them joint winners.
The announcement happened at the Dolby Theatre where the ceremony was being held. As the audience reacted with surprise Nanjiani humorously reassured everyone saying that the tie was real and asking the crowd to remain calm while the awards were presented to both winners.
The films The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva ultimately shared the Best Live Action Short Film prize making the category one of the most talked about moments of the evening.
Ties at the Oscars are extremely rare. In nearly a century of awards history more than two thousand trophies have been presented but tied results have occurred only a handful of times. With this year’s result the total number of ties in Oscar history has now reached seven.
The first recorded tie at the Academy Awards happened in 1932 when Wallace Beery and Fredric March both won the Best Actor award for their performances in The Champ and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Another notable tie took place in 1969 when Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand shared the Best Actress Oscar for their roles in The Lion in Winter and Funny Girl.
More recently the 2013 ceremony saw a tie in the Best Sound Editing category when Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty both received the award.
With the 2026 ceremony now adding another rare shared victory the Best Live Action Short Film category has become one of the most memorable moments in recent Oscar history reminding audiences that even in the highly competitive world of filmmaking surprises can still happen.
