Jessie Buckley continued her near-unbroken run of triumph by way of awards season with a win for greatest movie actress on the prestigious Actor Awards (previously the Screen Actors Guild awards) on the Shrine Auditorium in an unseasonably baking Los Angeles on Sunday evening.
Nominated for her flip as a grieving Agnes Shakespeare in Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, the Kerry girl was predictably charming on the podium.
“Wow, I want to take a minute to see all these incredible, inspiring faces and souls in front of me,” she mentioned. “I have been categorically changed by so many people in this room and beyond. To get to work with my heart in my hand and stand beside my brilliant, daring friends who show me their heart. I mean, what a way to spend a life. Thank you.”
With Golden Globe, Bafta, Critics’ Choice and, now, the Actor underneath her belt, Buckley appears to be like unbeatable on the Academy Awards on March fifteenth. This was the final probability for Rose Byrne, her nearest rival, to stage an upset together with her searing flip as a confused mom in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.
The Australian actor appeared an actual contender earlier than Christmas after taking a lot of the main critics’ group prizes, however Buckley has been unstoppable within the subsequent televised ceremonies. Nobody has been such a robust favorite in greatest actress since Helen Mirren received for The Queen 21 years in the past.
The Screen Actors Guild was at all times eager on media referring to their awards statuette because the Actor, however, regardless of the perfect efforts of presenters (“the Actor goes to…”), stories stubbornly caught with “SAG award”.
This 12 months, the organisers took the drastic step of renaming the bash The Actor Awards offered by SAG-AFTRA. First offered in 1995, the relaxed affair, the final massive ceremony earlier than the Academy Awards, ushers within the remaining act of a now-epic gong season. With many SAG members additionally voting for the Oscars, awards tipsters pay shut heed to the outcomes right here.
Those pundits will really feel that the wind has swung again behind Ryan Coogler’s singular vampire saga Sinners. That movie received the prize for greatest ensemble and, in a substantial shock, greatest actor for Michael B Jordan. The charismatic actor beat out Timothée Chalamet, star of Marty Supreme, and Leonardo DiCaprio, nominated for Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, for enjoying twin gangsters in Coogler’s sprawling movie.
One Battle After Another – with wins on the Golden Globes, Bafta, Critics’ Choice and this weekend’s Producer’s Guild – nonetheless appears to be like like favorite for the perfect image Oscar, however awards historians will bear in mind, in 2006, Brokeback Mountain taking all these prizes earlier than shedding SAG ensemble to Crash, which then took the Academy Award.
Kildare’s Paul Mescal, nominated as William Shakespeare in Hamnet, misplaced in greatest supporting film actor to an absent Sean Penn for his function as a demented despot in One Battle After Another. After a win final week at Bafta, Penn now appears to be like a marginal favorite for the large race.
Veteran Amy Madigan received greatest supporting actress for her function as a witchy character within the horror movie Weapons. That Oscar class now feels completely up within the air. Teyanna Taylor received the Golden Globe for One Battle After Another. Wunmi Mosaku took the Bafta for Sinners.
Accepting her award, Madigan referred to her union background. “I come from Chicago, and everybody in my family, all my friends, relatives, whatever, we’re all union people,” she mentioned. “I don’t care what somebody says, they’re not going to bust us.”
The most transferring second of the night got here with Catherine O’Hara, who died in January, profitable greatest tv comedy actress for her function in The Studio. Her fellow Canadian Seth Rogen, creator and star of the Hollywood satire, took the stage because the digicam picked out numerous red-eyed viewers members.
“If there are kids in your lives, or just people who are out of touch or stupid or something, just show them O’Hara dancing to Harry Belafonte in Beetlejuice,” he mentioned. “That’s Catherine O’Hara [and] we were lucky that we got to live in a world where she so generously shared her talents with us.”
The Studio was the large winner within the TV part taking two additional awards: greatest comedy ensemble and, for Rogen, greatest comedy actor.
A characteristically dry Harrison Ford obtained the 12 months’s lifetime achievement from the guild. “I am quite humbled,” he mentioned. “I’m in a room of actors, many of whom are here because they’ve been nominated to receive a prize for their amazing work, while I’m here to receive a prize for being alive.”
The 2026 Actor Awards Presented by SAG-AFTRA
Film
Film Ensemble
Sinners
Film Actor
Michael B Jordan, Sinners
Film Actress
Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
Film Supporting Actor
Sean Penn, One Battle After Another
Film Supporting Actress
Amy Madigan, Weapons
Film Stunt Ensemble
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Television
Drama Series Ensemble
The Pitt
Drama Actor
Noah Wyle, The Pitt
Drama Actress
Keri Russell, The Diplomat
Comedy Series Ensemble
The Studio
Comedy Actor
Seth Rogen, The Studio
Comedy Actress
Catherine O’Hara, The Studio
Limited Series/Movie Actor
Owen Cooper, Adolescence
Limited Series/Movie Actress
Michelle Williams, Dying for Sex
TV Stunt Ensemble
The Last of Us
