The title mol-ecule, C(17)H(13)NO(3), adopts a Z configuration about the central olefinic bond. The 2-phenyl ring is almost coplanar with the plane of the oxazolone ring system, making a dihedral angle of 2.03 (11)°. The crystal structure is stabilized by π-π inter-actions between the oxazolone ring and phenyl ring of a neighbouring mol-ecule [centroid-centroid distance = 3.550 (3)Å], and by two weak inter-molecular C-H⋯π inter-actions. In addition, the crystal structure exhibits one weak intra-molecular C-H⋯N hydrogen bond.