Jessie Buckley continued her near-unbroken run of triumph through awards season with a win for best film actress at the prestigious Actor Awards (formerly the Screen Actors Guild awards) at the Shrine Auditorium in an unseasonably baking Los Angeles on Sunday night.
Nominated for her turn as a grieving Agnes Shakespeare in Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, the Kerry woman was predictably charming at the podium.
“Wow, I want to take a minute to see all these incredible, inspiring faces and souls in front of me,” she said. “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 under her belt, Buckley looks unbeatable at the Academy Awards on March 15th. This was the last chance for Rose Byrne, her nearest rival, to stage an upset with her searing turn as a stressed mother in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.
The Australian actor seemed a real contender before Christmas after taking most of the major critics’ group prizes, but Buckley has been unstoppable in the subsequent televised ceremonies. Nobody has been such a strong favourite in best actress since Helen Mirren won for The Queen 21 years ago.
The Screen Actors Guild was always keen on media referring to their awards statuette as the Actor, but, despite the best efforts of presenters (“the Actor goes to…”), reports stubbornly stuck with “SAG award”.
This year, the organisers took the drastic step of renaming the bash The Actor Awards presented by SAG-AFTRA. First presented in 1995, the relaxed affair, the last big ceremony before the Academy Awards, ushers in the final act of a now-epic gong season. With many SAG members also voting for the Oscars, awards tipsters pay close heed to the results here.
Those pundits will feel that the wind has swung back behind Ryan Coogler’s singular vampire saga Sinners. That film won the prize for best ensemble and, in a considerable surprise, best 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 playing twin gangsters in Coogler’s sprawling film.
Sinners: (L-R) Michael B Jordan, Wunmi Mosaku, Miles Caton and Delroy Lindo speak onstage during the 32nd Annual Actor Awards in Los Angeles, California. Photograph: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
One Battle After Another – with wins at the Golden Globes, Bafta, Critics’ Choice and this weekend’s Producer’s Guild – still looks like favourite for the best picture Oscar, but awards historians will remember, in 2006, Brokeback Mountain taking all those prizes before losing SAG ensemble to Crash, which then took the Academy Award.
Kildare’s Paul Mescal, nominated as William Shakespeare in Hamnet, lost in best supporting movie actor to an absent Sean Penn for his role as a demented despot in One Battle After Another. After a win last week at Bafta, Penn now looks a marginal favourite for the big race.
Veteran Amy Madigan won best supporting actress for her role as a witchy character in the horror film Weapons. That Oscar category now feels totally up in the air. Teyanna Taylor won 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 said. “I don’t care what somebody says, they’re not going to bust us.”
The most moving moment of the evening came with Catherine O’Hara, who died in January, winning best television comedy actress for her role in The Studio. Her fellow Canadian Seth Rogen, creator and star of the Hollywood satire, took the stage as the camera picked out countless red-eyed audience 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 said. “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 big winner in the TV section taking two further awards: best comedy ensemble and, for Rogen, best comedy actor.
A characteristically dry Harrison Ford received the year’s lifetime achievement from the guild. “I am quite humbled,” he said. “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-AFTRAFilmFilm 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
TelevisionDrama 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