Who should win at the Baftas? Yahoo readers have their say

The Baftas will return for its 2025 edition on Sunday, 16 February, celebrating the best and brightest stars in the industry this awards season.

It has been quite an interesting lead-up to awards season, with a number of controversies rising up for several of the season's frontrunners that could impact their chances at the final hurdle. In the run up to the Oscars every awards show could change who becomes the leader of the pack, and the Baftas are the UK's equivalent to the prestigious ceremony.

While the Bafta awards are voted for by their members, with the exception of the EE Rising Star Award, Yahoo wanted to hear from our readers about the films and actors they hope will succeed at the event on Sunday, 16 February regardless of who is predicted to win. The poll results are in, and answers may surprise you.

Who Yahoo readers want to win at the 2025 Baftas

Leading Actor

Adrien Brody has been sweeping the best actor category this awards season for his performance as Jewish-Hungarian architect László Tóth in The Brutalist, Brady Corbet's 3 hours 38 minute epic about the immigrant experience. He is currently the frontrunner to win the same award at the Baftas, and is up against Ralph Fiennes, Timothee Chalamet, Sebastian Stan and Hugh Grant.

Yahoo readers tipped Fiennes to win at the Baftas for Conclave, with 39% of users voting for him. Brody came a close second with 48 votes, which amounts to 33% of the vote. Chalamet trailed behind in third place for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown with 27 votes, which comes to 20%.

Leading Actress

Following her success at the Golden Globe Awards, Demi Moore became the frontrunner for Best Actress at the Oscars and elsewhere in the season. She is joined by frontrunner Mikey Madison, and is nominated at the Baftas alongside Cynthia Erivo, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Saoirse Ronan, and Karla Sofia Gascon.

For Yahoo readers Moore also came out on top for her performance in The Substance, winning 53% of the vote —or 76 votes in total— while Madison came second with 14% of the vote. Erivo was not far behind with 13% of the vote, while 12% of readers voted for Jean-Baptiste.

Supporting Actor

Kieran Culkin is the clear frontrunner for the Supporting Actor category, with his performance in Jesse Eisenberg's A Real Pain proving to be an awards show darling despite his belief no one would see the movie. He is nominated alongside Sing Sing's Clarence Maclin, The Brutalist's Guy Pearce, Edward Norton, Yura Borisov, and Jeremy Strong.

Yahoo readers agreed with predictions for the Baftas, with Culkin earning a resounding 57% of the vote — 70 out of 126 votes. Pearce came in second for our readers, with 23 votes aka 18% of the vote.

Supporting Actress

Zoe Saldaña is the frontrunner for Supporting Actress for her role in Emilia Pérez, and while the movie has drawn some controversy there remains a lot of love for her performance. She is nominated opposite co-star Selena Gomez, Conclave's Isabella Rossellini, Wicked's Ariana Grande, The Brutalist's Felicity Jones, and The Last Showgirl's Jaime Lee Curtis.

Yahoo readers didn't agree with predictions, with the percentage of votes being almost evenly spread between the nominees. Grande comes first in our readers estimations, with 47 people voting for her compared to Saldaña's 37 votes —which is a different of 36% to 29% of the vote. Conclave's Rossellini came a close third place with 17% of the vote.

Best Film

While critics have predicted that The Brutalist will win the top prize at the Oscars and that Anora could be the dark horse winner, for Yahoo readers it wasn't the same. The two films are nominated alongside Conclave, A Complete Unknown and Emilia Perez.

For Yahoo readers the film that should win the main prize at the Baftas is Conclave, which earned 37% of the vote (50 votes) compared to 32% of the vote given to The Brutalist (42 votes). Anora was a close third place with 17% of the vote.

Outstanding British Film

As well as the Best Film category the Baftas also have an Outstanding British Film category to celebrate the best of British and Irish cinema. The films nominated are Bird, Blitz, Conclave, Gladiator II, Hard Truths, Kneecap, Lee, Love Lies Bleeding, The Outrun, and Wallace and Gromit: Murder Most Fowl.

As well as topping the Best Film vote for Yahoo readers Conclave also came first in the vote for Outstanding British Film, earning 54% of the total vote (79 votes). Irish music movie Kneecap came second with 19% of the vote (27 votes), while Aardman animation's Christmas favourite Wallace and Gromit: Murder Most Fowl came in third with 11% of the vote (17 votes).

Best Director

The other big awards show prize is that of Best Director, and at the Baftas it is The Brutalist's Brady Corbet, Conclave's Edward Berger, Anora's Sean Baker, The Substance's Coralie Fargeat, Emilia Pérez's Jacques Audiard, and Dune's Denis Villeneuve who were nominated.

For Yahoo readers the person who should win the Bafta is Berger for his work on Conclave, he received 30% of the total vote (or 36 votes). Corbet came in a very close second with 33 votes, or 27% of the total vote, for his work on The Brutalist.

The Baftas take place on Sunday, 16 February and will air on BBC One at 7pm.