Paul Mescal is back at the BAFTAs with his third nomination. The Irish actor is up for Best Supporting Actor in Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet. He was previously nominated for Best Supporting Actor for the romantic fantasy All of Us Strangers in 2024 and Best Actor for 2023’s coming-of-age drama Aftersun. Dressed in a black Prada suit with a white collared shirt and a pocket square, but no tie, Mescal arrived arm-in-arm with his girlfriend, singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams. The couple, who have been reportedly dating for more than a year, made their first public appearance together a few days ago. Abrams wore a floral pattern dress from Chanel’s 2026 Métiers d’art show, which was held on a New York City subway platform last December.
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Mescal on the red carpet at the Royal Festival Hall.
Hamnet received 11 nominations at the British Academy Film Awards this year, making it the BAFTA’s most-nominated film by a female director ever. In the film, Mescal plays William Shakespeare opposite Jessie Buckley as his wife, Agnes. Told over three acts, in a hat tip to his plays, the film explores their relationship, but particularly the crushing grief that follows the death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet. While there are numerous references to some of his other famous works, including Romeo & Juliet, the story intends to suggest the devastation of Hamnet’s death and emotional fallout that served as the catalyst for Shakespeare to write one of his most famous tragedies, Hamlet.
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Mescal and Abrams at the 2026 BAFTAs.
“I think, very much like Shakespeare, Paul expresses parts of him [through his art] that he might not be able to express in real life,” Zhao told Rolling Stone in September. “He’s creating a container for himself and expressing that and allowing himself to feel that. I would not bring an actor who doesn’t have that to play William Shakespeare.”
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Mescal wore a lapel gem from Cartier’s Libre Polymorph collection to the 2024 BAFTAs.
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Mescal in a custom Gucci double-breasted tuxedo with a Cartier brooch at the BAFTAs in 2023.
Mescal received a Golden Globe nomination for playing Shakespeare, although not an Oscar nod, which some critics have seen as a snub. However, he doesn’t seem phased by it. “It is a privileged position because I am aware that I’ve been very lucky,” he told GQ UK last month. “But I’ve never been hired by a studio – I’ve been hired by filmmakers, and I think that is the key thing for actors to remember. I’m also acutely aware that I wouldn’t necessarily follow the model that I’ve chosen, because it might limit work accessibility.”
Rachel King (she/her) is a news writer at Town & Country. Before joining T&C, she spent nearly a decade as an editor at Fortune. Her work covering travel and lifestyle has appeared in Forbes, Observer, Robb Report, Cruise Critic, and Cool Hunting, among others. Originally from San Francisco, she lives in New York with her wife, their daughter, and a precocious labradoodle. Follow her on Instagram at @rk.passport.
