Jacob Elordi’s Oscars promise to his mother reveals what fame can’t replace

jacob elordi is turning the 2026 Academy Awards into a family milestone, saying he plans to bring his mother, Melissa Elordi, as his date—fulfilling a promise he says he made when he was 15.

What did Jacob Elordi say about bringing his mother to the 2026 Academy Awards?

In a January 2026 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Jacob Elordi said, “I’m going to take mom, ” explaining that he promised her at age 15 he would take her and that he must honor that promise. He also said she “fully believed in me the whole time. ” The plan places his mother, Melissa Elordi, beside him at what he described as a star-studded event where he is nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

The moment is striking because it frames a major awards-season appearance not as a networking obligation or celebrity ritual, but as a personal commitment—one he describes as long-standing and non-negotiable. It also signals how central his parents remain to the public story he tells about his career, even as his résumé spans projects referenced as The Kissing Booth, Frankenstein, and Wuthering Heights.

Who are John and Melissa Elordi, and what details has Jacob Elordi shared about them?

Jacob Elordi was raised in Australia by his parents, John Elordi and Melissa Elordi. He was born on June 26, 1997, in Brisbane, Australia, and he is the youngest in a family with three older sisters. In a July 2020 interview with GQ, he described himself as spoiled as the baby of the family, saying, “Growing up as the baby, I was definitely spoiled and I’m still spoiled, ” and he added that he grew up with everything he could ask for.

He has also spoken publicly about his parents’ work and their role in his upbringing. John Elordi worked as a housepainter, while Melissa Elordi was a homemaker. Jacob Elordi has described his father’s heritage as originating in the Basque Country, which he characterized as “a little place between France and Spain” in the same July 2020 GQ interview. He also recalled correcting his Wikipedia page, which he said originally described his descent as Spanish rather than Basque. In March 2022, he told El Pais that his father emigrated when he was 8 years old with only $8 in his pocket, adding that he is “super proud of that heritage. ”

On the family’s life in Australia, Jacob Elordi has said John Elordi spent 13 years building the Elordi family’s house himself. In an August 2022 interview with GQ, Jacob Elordi described his father as a “totem of the kind of man that I would like to be, ” and connected John Elordi’s labor to the “toughness and work ethic” he says he learned. Jacob Elordi has also described a close bond with his mother, noting that Melissa Elordi would spend as much quality time as possible with him while he was growing up.

How does the family story fit alongside his career and his father’s skepticism?

Jacob Elordi’s career “took off after playing a teen heartthrob in The Kissing Booth, ” and he has described his parents as staying by his side as his work expanded beyond that early breakout. Yet he has also described a disconnect between his father’s working-life background and the day-to-day reality of an acting career.

In the August 2022 GQ interview, Jacob Elordi recounted exchanges with John Elordi that underscore confusion rather than criticism: “He’ll still be like, ‘Are you going to shoot the one… where you’re kissing? In the booth?’ ‘No, Dad, I’m making good movies, I swear, ’ ” Jacob said. He continued with another example: “‘Is that the one where you’re an American?’ ‘I’m American in all of them, Dad. ’ ” The anecdotes present John Elordi as supportive, but not always able to track the specifics of the roles—an everyday gap between a laborer’s life and a celebrity’s profession.

At the same time, Jacob Elordi has said his parents had initial concerns about his chosen path because of “the difficulty of breaking into the industry, ” while still being supportive. Taken together with his plan to bring Melissa Elordi to the Academy Awards, the picture is of a household that treated acting not as inevitable destiny but as a long shot—one that required faith and persistence.

In that context, the decision to have Melissa Elordi at his side at the 2026 Academy Awards reads less like a public-relations move and more like an attempt to close the distance between the private sacrifices behind an artistic career and the public stage where it is rewarded. For jacob elordi, the red-carpet optics are also the fulfillment of a promise he says was made long before nominations entered the conversation.