Regina Hall had plenty to celebrate at the 2026 Academy Awards — and even more to reflect on.
The actress hit the red carpet alongside her One Battle After Another castmates as the film took home six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Paul Thomas Anderson. At the same time, Hall is already looking ahead, teasing her return as fan-favorite Brenda in Scary Movie 5 and using her platform to speak on an issue that matters to her.
A big night for ‘One Battle After Another’
Hall was in attendance with her castmates for one of the night’s biggest winners. One Battle After Another dominated the ceremony, earning multiple awards and cementing its place as one of the year’s standout films.
In the film, Hall plays Deandra, also known as Lady Champagne, a quiet but commanding leader of the revolutionary group the French 75, alongside Teyana Taylor and Leonardo DiCaprio.
“I think I take something from every character,” said Hall said in a recent interview with Blavity’s Shadow and Act. “What I loved about Deandra is her commitment, focus, and passion for what she believed in. I hope I take a little bit of that with me, with today, and everything that I do, you know, doing things and being committed to the things that you are passionate about, I think that was a quality that I thought was special, and that doesn’t have to be the same for all of us, but I felt like for Andrea, it was deep.”
Hall teases her return as Brenda in ‘Scary Movie 6’
As she reflects on her latest project, Hall is also revisiting one of her most iconic roles.
“I love Brenda,” she said. “It was great stepping back into… You know, Brenda gets mammograms, I can tell you that much. She’s over 40. When you first met Brenda, she was under 40, and now Brenda’s over 40 and getting mammograms.”
Hall added, “It was fun. It was great to work with the original cast again. It was great to be able to play a character; it’s the most that I’ve played any character in my life. This is the fifth time I’ve gotten to be Brenda, and so it was great, a lot of fun, and just hoping the audience loves it.”
Why she’s using her platform to talk about breast cancer awareness
Beyond the red carpet and upcoming roles, Hall is also using this moment to highlight an issue close to her heart.
Ahead of the Oscars, Hall partnered with Novartis on a campaign called Your Attention Please, which focuses on raising awareness around breast cancer and the importance of early detection — particularly for Black women, who are less likely to be diagnosed at an early stage.
“I think it’s important, and I care about women,” Hall said. “I’ve seen it impact women in my own life, friends, and family. When you have loved ones, and you see the difference early detection has made in their treatment and healing, you want that for everyone. I would want you to know it. I’d want anyone to know where they can get access and where they can get resources.”
She added, “To me, that’s going to be more important than what eye shadow, or what wig, even those are important, because don’t get me wrong, I don’t like a bad wig, but I think if you’re asking someone to advocate for themselves, you’ve gotta give them the resources. I think partnering with Novartis was important to get that message out there and to make a difference. We know the disparity exists, so one of the ways that you can lessen that is with information, that’s what you can arm people with.”