In a very special celebration of Hollywood’s acting guild, the 25th Screen Actors Guild Awards took place Jan. 27 in a ceremony hosted by Megan Mullally at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center. The show’s silver anniversary looked back at some of the acting honored by voting members of SAG-AFTRA, as well as recognizing the best film and television performances of 2018.
The guild’s top award, for the cast of a film, this year went to Disney’s “Black Panther.” The Marvel comic book adaptation, directed by Ryan Coogler and now up for seven Oscars, has become the first superhero movie to garner major awards attention. Glenn Close earned her second Actor statue for her leading role in Sony Pictures Classics’ “The Wife.” Rami Malek earned his first for playing Freddie Mercury in 20th Century Fox’s Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Mahershala Ali of Universal Pictures’ “Green Book” won for supporting actor, while Emily Blunt, who is not in contention at the upcoming Academy Awards, took home the supporting actress prize for Paramount Pictures’ “A Quiet Place.”
In the TV races, Amazon Prime Video’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” continued its dominance of awards shows by winning the first three awards of the evening, including in the comedy ensemble category. The Amy Sherman-Palladino series starring individual SAG winners Rachel Brosnahan and Tony Shalhoub has also notched eight Emmys and three Golden Globes. “I have wanted to be an actor for as long as I can remember,” said Brosnahan, accepting her award for comedy actress. “To be able to count you all in this room as my peers, let alone to stand up on this stage, is beyond my wildest dreams.” She went on to thank the cast, crew, and background actors, as well as casting directors Jeanie Bacharach, Meredith Tucker, and Cindy Tolan, and Donna Rosenstein.
Darren Criss of FX’s “Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” and Patricia Arquette of Showtime’s “Escape at Dannemora” won in the limited series and TV movie categories, while Sandra Oh of BBC America’s “Killing Eve” earned the prize for drama actress; all three also recently took home Golden Globes. Accepting the prize for TV drama actor, Jason Bateman of Netflix’s “Ozark” had a message of hope for those in his business struggling to fulfill their dream: “Hang in there.”
Winning in the stunt ensemble categories, unveiled on the red carpet prior to the ceremony by SAG Awards ambassador Harry Shum Jr., were “Black Panther” and Netflix’s “GLOW.” Alan Alda was awarded the guild’s Life Achievement Award, recognizing his long career of outstanding performances as well as philanthropic work. “How proud I am to be a part of our brothership of actors,” he said in his speech. His honor was introduced by Tom Hanks, one of the performers who won at the inaugural SAG Awards in 1995; that year’s other leading film winner, Jodie Foster, presented the final award for cast in a motion picture.
READ: SAG Awards Producer Kathy Connell Talks 25 Years of Actors Honoring Actors
SAG-winning film actors have a high probability of going on to earn Oscar statues; last year, for instance, Frances McDormand, Gary Oldman, Allison Janney, and Sam Rockwell repeated their wins at the Academy Awards. When it comes to the guild’s top cast award, the winning film has gone on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture 11 out of 23 times in the SAG category’s history. Who will go on to score at the 91st Oscars ceremony Feb. 24?
The SAG Awards, benefiting the SAG Foundation, are the industry’s only accolades given to and voted upon by actors. For a full list of winners, stats, and information, visit sagawards.org. And stay tuned with Backstage’s awards coverage for more!
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