All actors worth their salt know you're often only as good as the person acting opposite you. The Screen Actors Guild recognizes this, and its SAG Awards is the rare awards show with a category honoring the ensemble of a film.

With nomination ballots being mailed this very week, Back Stage decided to look at the casts of three of the year's breakout movies. The films—Joel and Ethan Coen's "A Serious Man," the festival favorite "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire," and the war drama "The Hurt Locker"—could not be more different from one another in plot and tone. Yet they have at least one thing in common: casts of mostly unknown actors who virtually disappear into their roles.


'Serious' People
'Burn after Read," the previous movie from filmmaker siblings Joel and Ethan Coen, featured a stellar ensemble including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, and Tilda Swinton. For their new movie, "A Serious Man," the brothers put together an equally impressive group of actors, even if most of them aren't household names.

Family Matters
The cast of "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire," developed a true familial dynamic--impressive, considering that the family depicted in Lee Daniels' film is anything but harmonious.

Band of Brothers
Filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow went into "The Hurt Locker" with two looming challenges. First, there was the perception that no Iraq War movie had succeeded at the box office. Second, her main cast was made up of talented working actors, but none were exactly household names.

Critical Ayes
There is a consensus this year about the best film ensembles, at least among the five critics Back Stage spoke with. They all like "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire," "Up in the Air," and "An Education."