Bafta winner Wumi Mosaku said she ‘took to heart’ the message of Sinners and what vampires represent in real life while working on Ryan Coogler’s ground-breaking historical drama horror film.

Sinners has enjoyed massive success with critics and fans alike since its release last April, taking home three 2026 Bafta Film Awards (from 13 nominations) on Sunday night while going into the Oscars next month as the most nominated move in the Academy’s history with 16.

Mosaku triumphed in the best supporting actress category, beating out the likes of Teyana Taylor for One Battle After Another, Emily Watson for Hamnet and Marty Supreme’s Odessa A’zion, and was greeted with whoops and cheers in the winners’ press room.

Responding to Metro’s question about the experience of working on a Black-led vampire film and what its global mainstream breakthrough has meant, Mosaku shared: ‘It always feels good when you walk into a room and you’re not the only one. It always feels good when you feel like your story, your experience, is being represented in such a way with integrity and creativity.’

The Nigerian-British actress plays Annie in Sinners, herbalist and Hoodoo practitioner wife of Michael B. Jordan’s Smoke (he also plays his twin Stack).

She also revealed how the vampires of Sinners – initially led by Jack O’Connell’s villainous but charming Remmick – had resonated with her in real life.

‘When Ryan described the vampires, after explaining to me this world and the relationships of these characters, I saw his vision so clearly, I saw what the vampires represent. What the vampires represent in my world – as an actor or just as a person – [are] the things that really threaten to rob you of your joy, your freedom, your creativity.’

The Loki and Luther actress added that she ‘treasured it because I thought it was so specific, but it was so universal’.

She added: ‘I think you can take the message from the film and transfer to any industry even, whatever your purpose is, whatever your creativity is, whatever your – I don’t know – your science research is, who are the vampires? How are they trying to limit your experience, your purpose, your freedom?

‘I’ve taken that message to heart as an actor and also just a member of society: what am I going to do in in order to make sure that I stay in integrity? Because everything that we do today will reverberate in the future. So whether you’re an actor, writer or journalist, you’re going to leave a mark.’

Mosaku also shared that she’d thought more about the power of seeing a woman of colour winning a Bafta since Sinners came out with ‘the response of Black women feeling seen, loved, valued, treasured, the power of our ancestry and the spirituality’.

‘For me, seeing that response from the audience made me realise how lonely it felt – and [then] all of a sudden, these women were in my life who I’d never met, who I felt a kinship to.’

She was full of praise for Coogler for giving her that experience.

‘He didn’t have to cast me, but he has been poured into by women who look like me and supported by women who look like me and loved by people who look like me.’

When news of her writer-director’s win in the best original screenplay category came through, Mosaku was visibly overcome with emotion, and lauded him for not ‘taking it all with ego’ and ‘letting everyone know on the set that they are so important and we can’t do it without them’.

‘And that’s why he wasn’t affected by what the outside world told him was valuable. He said, “No, she’s valuable, and I want Annie to look like her, feel like her”, because those are the people who love him.’

The star also said that her initial reaction to hearing her name read out was ‘that’s too fast, she can’t possibly have opened the envelope’.

‘I was really, really shocked. I lost my breath, and I couldn’t quite believe it.’

Mosaku, who is expecting her second child, said she was looking forward to celebrating with ‘a really lovely sparkling water and a virgin margarita’.

As well as Sinners’ victories for Coogler and Mosaku, it also won best original score for composer Ludwig Göransson, a longtime Coogler collaborator after the pair met while studying at the University of Southern California.

One Battle After Another won the most gongs of the evening with six, including best film, best director and best adapted screenplay for Paul Thomas Anderson, while I Swear’s Robert Aramayo was the big surprise of the night after he won both the EE Rising Star Award and leading actor – beating Hollywood stalwarts and frontrunners Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothée Chalamet and Jordan.

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