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Michael B Jordan, Jessie Buckley and the late Catherine O’Hara were among the big winners at this year’s newly titled Actor awards.
Previously known as the Screen Actors Guild awards, the Actors are voted on by a membership of more than 160,000 actors. The name change was to provide “clearer recognition in terms of what the show is about”.
Jordan beat out the hotly predicted favourite Timothée Chalamet for the best lead male actor award, for his dual role in acclaimed vampire thriller Sinners. Jordan paid tribute to director and longtime collaborator Ryan Coogler, and the “love and support” from the many actors in the room who watched him grow up in the spotlight. This weekend also saw Jordan pick up the NAACP image award for entertainer and actor of the year.
The big screen ensemble award went to the cast of Sinners, also including Delroy Lindo and Wunmi Mosaku. “This project is anointed and from that standpoint, we’re all anointed to be part of this incredible journey,” Lindo said on behalf of the cast.
Buckley followed her wins at the Baftas and Golden Globes with another best lead female actor award for her performance in Chloé Zhao’s semi-fictionalised period drama Hamnet, beating Emma Stone and Rose Byrne. “I have been categorically changed by so many people in this room and beyond,” she said on stage.
Sean Penn was named best supporting male actor for his performance in One Battle After Another after also winning the Bafta last weekend. The actor was not at the ceremony to accept his award.
Weapons villain Amy Madigan enjoyed a surprise victory, beating favourite Teyana Taylor to take home the award for supporting female actor. “It’s such an honour to be here, I’ve been doing this for a long ass time,” she said, adding: “As you can tell, I’m nervous and overwhelmed and just so happy.”
After major wins at the Emmys and Golden Globes, Apple’s freshman industry series The Studio also dominated tonight’s comedy trophies. It picked up three awards, including a win for comedy ensemble against competition from previous winners The Bear and Only Murders in the Building.
The Studio’s co-creator Seth Rogen was also named best male actor for his role in the show, beating co-star Ike Barinholtz, while the late Catherine O’Hara, who died in January this year, was given a rare posthumous award for her performance.
Rogen collected on her behalf to a standing ovation from the audience, calling it a “very sad honour”.
“I know she would have been honoured to receive this award from her fellow performers,” he said, praising her “ability to be generous and kind and gracious while never ever minimising her own talents and her own ability to contribute to the work she was doing”.
The drama ensemble award was given to the cast of breakout medical drama The Pitt, beating The White Lotus and Severence. “I’ve never been more proud of a group of people in my life,” star Noah Wyle said. “We’re so grateful for this, I can’t even tell you.”
Wyle, who had previously won with the ensemble of ER four times in the 1990s, was also named best male actor in a drama series and used his speech to praise the work of labour unions.
Netflix’s smash hit drama Adolescence continued its impressive awards run, with a win for Owen Cooper as best male actor in a limited series. At 16, he’s become the youngest ever winner in this category, after Emmy and Golden Globe wins. The actor, who recently appeared in Wuthering Heights, wasn’t in attendance to accept.
Michelle Williams beat Cooper’s co-star Erin Doherty to win best female actor in a limited series for her role in acclaimed comedy drama Dying for Sex, her second Actor award after winning for Fosse/Verdon in 2020. Doherty had already won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her performance.
The Diplomat’s Keri Russell was a surprise first-time winner of the female actor in a drama series award, beating Pluribus’s Rhea Seehorn and The White Lotus actors Parker Posey and Aimee Lou Wood.
Harrison Ford was the recipient of this year’s life achievement award, presented to him by Woody Harrelson who called him “a true renaissance man” in his introduction.
“I feel incredibly grateful for this kind attention but to be clear, I’m also quite humbled,” Ford said onstage, joking that it was a prize for “being alive”. He later added, in an emotive speech, that he sees himself as “a lucky guy – lucky to have found my people, lucky to have work that challenges me, lucky to still be doing it and I don’t take that for granted.”
The year’s stunt ensemble awards were won by Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and The Last of Us.
The ceremony, which aired live on Netflix, was hosted by Nobody Wants This actor Kristen Bell, who kicked the night off by saying: “I think the world could use some levity right now so we’re gonna keep things fun tonight.”
The night was light on political speeches but on the red carpet, wearing an “ICE out” pin, Wunmi Mosaku called ICE “atrocious”. “I don’t believe in what this administration is inflicting on the people in this country,” she said.
Later in the evening, Sag-Aftra president and Lord of the Rings actor Sean Astin offered “a sincere prayer for peace” on behalf of the acting community.
Last year’s winners included Timothée Chalamet, Demi Moore, Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldana for film and Anna Sawai, Jessica Gunning, Jean Smart and Colin Farrell for television.
This year’s Oscars, where Sinners leads the nominations, will take place on 15 March.
