Oscars 2016 start tonight

What time does Oscars 2016 start tonight ?

 The day of the 88th Academy Awards has dawned and anticipation is reaching fever pitch: will six-time nominee Leonardo DiCaprio finally win an Oscar? Will Alejandro González Iñárritu snag the Best Director award for the second year running? And what will Chris Rock have to say about OscarsSoWhite? Here's everything you need to know to about tonight's ceremony.

The Academy Awards ceremony is on Sunday February 28 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, which has hosted the Oscars every year since 2001. This year's ceremony will be hosted by American comedian Chris Rock.

What time is it on?

The ceremony kicks off in California at 5.30pm local time, with guests arriving on the red carpet up to 90 minutes earlier. Due to the international time difference, this means that the actual ceremony doesn't start until 1.30am GMT.

How can I watch the Oscars online?

In the UK, the Oscars are streamed exclusively by Sky. To watch the awards online, you must either be an existing Sky member, or purchase a NowTV Sky Movies pass from nowtv.com.

How can I watch the Oscars on television?

The Oscars will be broadcast on TV only via Sky Movies Oscars, a channel set up specifically for the awards, which also screens Oscar-winning films from previous years in the run-up to the ceremony. The channel is live until March 6.

Who are the nominees?

This year’s Best Picture nominees include The Big Short, Room and Spotlight; Leonardo DiCaprio leads the race for Best Actor, while Brie Larson looks like the most likely contender for Best Actress. Read the full list of nominees here, and an analysis of who should win by The Telegraph’s film critic Robbie Collin here.

Who are the guest presenters?

Celebrities who will be performing or presenting at this year's awards show include:

• J.J. Abrams
• Patricia Arquette
• Abraham Attah
• Cate Blanchett
• Emily Blunt
• Steve Carell
• Henry Cavill
• Priyanka Chopra
• Louis C.K.
• Sacha Baron Cohen
• Common
• Russell Crowe
• Benicio Del Toro
• Chris Evans
• Tina Fey
• Morgan Freeman
• Jennifer Garner
• Whoopi Goldberg
• Ryan Gosling
• Louis Gossett, Jr.
• Kevin Hart
• Lady Gaga
• Dave Grohl
• Quincy Jones
• Byung-hun Lee
• John Legend
• Jared Leto
• Rachel McAdams
• Julianne Moore
• Olivia Munn
• Dev Patel
• Eddie Redmayne
• Daisy Ridley
• Margot Robbie
• Jason Segel
• Andy Serkis
• Sarah Silverman
• J.K. Simmons
• Sam Smith
• Charlize Theron
• Jacob Tremblay
• Sofia Vergara
• Kerry Washington
• The Weeknd
• Pharrell Williams
• Reese Witherspoon

Joe Biden will be there as Lady Gaga's support act

Well, not quite, but the Vice President of the United States will be introducing Lady Gaga's performance of her Oscar-nominated song Til it Happens to You at the ceremony. The song appears in The Hunting Ground, a documentary about sexual assault on universtiy campuses. Biden, who has campaigned extensively for better prevention of sexual assault, and drafted the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, will use his platform to raise awareness about the issue.

Eddie Redmayne thinks Leo will take Best Actor glory

The almost impossibly nice Redmayne, who won the prize last year, has backed Leonardo DiCaprio, one of his rivals in this year's Best Actor race. Speaking at a British film event in West Hollywood, Redmayne said: "I think it's pretty much certainly Leo's year, and so well deserved."

Redmayne, 34, won in 2015 for his transformative performance as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything; this year he's nominated for playing Lili Elbe, one of the earliest recipients of gender reassignment surgery, in The Danish Girl.

What is #OscarsSoWhite, and why is everyone talking about it?

OscarsSoWhite is a Twitter hashtag created in 2015 to protest about the under-representation of non-white actors and artists at the Oscars. This year, like last year, all 20 Oscar-nominated actors are white. Since this year’s nominees were announced, everyone from Barack Obama to Michael Caine has been sharing their views on the controversy.

What will the guests be eating?

Although no food is served at the Academy Awards themselves, the Governors Ball after-party is a foodie’s paradise. It’s an epic undertaking: a team of 300 chefs and 600 waiters will prepare 30 different dishes for 1,600 people. This year’s menu seems to be centred around seafood: it includes Oscar-shaped salmon appetisers, an extensive sushi bar, and chinois lobster, cooked in a black bean and ginger sauce.

The drinks look rather enticing, too: one cocktail, the Golden Goose Fizz, is served in an eggshell covered with gold leaf.

Wolfgang Puck, the long-serving official caterer for the Governors Ball, told ABC news that he has something “totally new” this year – homemade donuts, cooked to order. But rather than being fried, these donuts are flambéed.

But the stars’ favourite dish is a lot closer to simple home cooking: “Everyone… from Barbra Streisand to John Travolta, everyone loves the pot pie,” he said. It’s an ordinary chicken pot pie – with added black truffles.

As a consolation prize for unsuccessful nominees, everyone can take home their own chocolate Oscar, coated in 24-carat gold. Puck has already published the recipes for three of his Oscars hors d’oeuvres online, if you feel like making your own at home.