Actor Awards Deliver an Upset—and a First

After a near awards-season sweep by One Battle After Another, Sinners won best ensemble at the Screen Actors Guild's 32nd Actor Awards on Sunday, shaking up the Oscar race and setting up a potential nail-biter finale in two weeks at the Academy Awards, per the AP. The guild's awards, formerly known as the SAG Awards, are one of the most closely watched Oscar precursors. Actors make up the largest slice of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and their choices at the Actor Awards often align.

The victory for Ryan Coogler's blues-soaked vampire saga showed that it has a strong chance to win at the Oscars, too, despite an almost unblemished run of awards for Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another. It's won at the Golden Globes, the Producers Guild Awards, the BAFTAs, and the Directors Guild Awards. But the win Sunday, in a Netflix-streamed ceremony at the Shine Auditorium in Los Angeles, flipped that awards-season script. Writer-director Coogler, whose Black Panther triumphed at the guild's awards in 2019, became the first filmmaker to steer two ensembles to the guild's top prize.

"From the bottom of our hearts, to the bottom of your hearts, thank you so much for everything," said Delroy Lindo, who spoke on behalf of the film's cast. Moments earlier, Michael B. Jordan also won best male actor, upsetting the category favorite, Timothée Chalamet, and handing the 39-year-old Jordan the most significant prize of his acclaimed career. "I wasn't expecting this at all," said Jordan, who reflected on starting out as an actor before he paused to appreciate the moment. "Yeah, man, this is pretty cool." As expected, Jessie Buckley won best female actor for her performance in Hamnet. But the other actor races have been harder to call.

On Sunday, Sean Penn (who didn't attend) won best supporting male actor for One Battle After Another and Amy Madigan won best supporting female actor for Weapons. Catherine O'Hara posthumously won best female actor in a comedy series for her performance as a movie executive in the showbiz satire The Studio, with the crowd rising in a standing ovation, while Harrison Ford was honored with the SAG-AFTRA Life Achievement Award. Among the TV awards, The Studio won for comedy series and The Pitt won for drama series. Individual winners included Keri Russell (The Diplomat), Seth Rogen (The Studio), Michelle Williams (Dying for Sex), Owen Cooper (Adolescence) and Noah Wyle (The Pitt).