Golden Globes 2026: The Asian nominees you should know in films like Hamnet and KPop Demon Hunters

Oldboy director Park Chan-wook is back on the international stage with his latest black comedy-thriller No Other Choice. This satirical take on capitalism sees a white collar worker being driven to murdering all rivals for a job after he’s laid off. Very Squid Game. 

While Park didn’t receive a nod for best director, its lead actor Lee Byung-Hun is one of the six nominees at the Golden Globes 2026 for best male actor in a motion picture (musical or comedy). Lee and Park previously worked together on the latter’s directorial debut, Joint Security Area. Lee’s fellow nominees are Ethan Hawke for Blue Moon; Clooney for Jay Kelly; Jesse Plemons for Bugonia; Leonardo DiCaprio for One Battle After Another; and Chalamet for Marty Supreme.

The film has been nominated for best motion picture (non-English language) alongside It Was Just An Accident from France, Norway’s Sentimental Value, and The Secret Agent, as well as Spain’s Sirāt and Tunisia’s The Voice of Hind Rajab. It is also up for best motion picture (musical or comedy), as have Blue Moon, Bugonia, Marty Supreme, Nouvelle Vague and One Battle After Another.

In a major moment for Japanese animation, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba—Infinity Castle has been nominated for best motion picture (animated). It is only the second ever anime to be nominated for a Golden Globe; in 2024, Hayao Miyazaki was nominated for his The Boy and the Heron—and won. (Incidentally, that was only the legendary director-animator’s second ever Golden Globe nod.)

The other nominees in the category are Little Amélie or the Character of Rain—as it is set in Japan and has a Korean French co-director, we’re also counting it on this list of Asian representation; Arco, featuring the voices of Natalie Portman and Will Farrell; Disney Pixar’s Elio; Disney’s A-lister vehicle Zootopia 2—the likes of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Sir Idris Elba, Ke Huy Quan and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson lend their talents; and of course, 2025’s biggest pop culture moment, K-Pop Demon Hunters. 

In case you missed it: How Park Chan-wook shook up world cinema with his very specific brand of storytelling

One of the biggest pop culture moments of the year celebrated Asian pride. K-Pop Demon Hunters saw children (and adults) around the world dress up at Halloween as members of Huntr/x, the film had everyone Googling where to get the best kimbap and bingsu, and parents globally were relieved that Frozen was no longer top of their Netflix list.

As well as its nod for best motion picture, the film is also nominated for the relatively new cinematic and box office achievement gong, introduced in 2024, when Barbie won it; Wicked took the prize last year. The award recognises “the year’s most acclaimed, highest-earning and/or most viewed films that have garnered extensive global audience support and attained cinematic excellence”.

In this category this year, the film, which features the voices of actors including Arden Cho, Yunjin Kim, Daniel Dae Kim, Ken Jeong and Lee Byung-hun, faces off against Avatar: Fire and Ash, F1, Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning, Sinners, Weapons, Wicked: For Good and Zootopia 2.

The film’s earworm Golden, written by Ejae, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo, Park Hong Jun, and  Mark Sonnenblick, is also nominated for best original song. The other contenders are Dream As One from Avatar: Fire and Ash, by Miley Cyrus, Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt and Simon Franglen; I Lied to You, from Sinners, by Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Göransson; the title track from Train Dreams, written by Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner; and two numbers from Wicked: For Good by Stephen Schwartz: No Place Like Home and The Girl in the Bubble. 

Pakistani American actor Kumail Nanjiani went viral for getting buff for the role of Kingo in Eternals, Chloé Zhao’s 2021 contribution to the MCU, but it is for his comedy that he is best known, having come to acclaim in the HBO series Silicon Valley. This year, he has been recognised for his comedy special, Night Thoughts.

He is in the running alongside political satirist Bill Maher’s Is Anyone Else Seeing This? ; Ted Lasso star Brett Goldstein for The Second Best Night of Your Life; Jumanji star Kevin Hart for Acting My Age, creator of The Office Ricky Gervais for Mortality; and Wreck-It Ralph actor Sarah Silverman for Postmortem.

The third season of the twisted dark dramedy The White Lotus is up for six nominations at the Golden Globes 2026, including five for acting. But it’s the nod for best television series (drama) that we’re claiming for the continent. After all, the season is set in a luxury resort in Thailand, and the cast includes Thai stars Patravadi “Lek” Mejudhon, Tayme Thapthimthong and Lalisa Manobal, aka Blackpink star/Labubu aficionado Lisa. 

NOW READ

13 most anticipated movies of 2026

The concerts we can’t wait to see in 2026

7 of the top Tatler feature stories of 2025