Yahoo Lifestyle Why ‘Wicked’ Star Jonathan Bailey Skipped the Oscars Despite Film's 10 Nominations
Wicked star Jonathan Bailey was noticeably absent at the 2025 Academy Awards—but for a good reason, as his co-star Jeff Goldblum explained.
"He's on stage right now in England, doing Richard II," Goldblum, 72, told E! News! ahead of the 97th annual awards ceremony, held in Los Angeles on Sunday, March 2. "He's a masterful, eighth-degree black belt actor."
Goldblum added: "I adore Jonathan Bailey. He's great in our movie. What a great actor."
Along with Goldblum, Bailey stars as Prince Fiyero in Wicked opposite Bowen Yang, Michelle Yeoh, Peter Dinklage—and of course, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, who left fans speechless after their opening performance at the Oscars.
The duo had audience members on their feet with tears in their eyes while belting out a medley of tunes from the Wizard of Oz universe, including "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," "Defying Gravity" and "Home." Grande and Erivo brought Glinda and Elphaba to life once again, demonstrating exactly why both performers nabbed Oscar nominations this year.
"Out of the world vocals. Mesmerizing," one social media user wrote of their performance, while another added, "Ariana's whistle notes just unlocked a new color in the rainbow."
Wicked was nominated for a total of 10 awards at Sunday night's ceremony, including Best Picture.
