The 31st annual Screen Actors Guild awards premiered on Feb. 24, streaming live on Netflix and continuing to be available for viewers for 28 days after the premiere.
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was created in 1933 and combined with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) as a labor union to protect and represent media professionals in the industry.
The highly anticipated awards show has been running since 1995. The awards are voted on by members of the union to recognize and cheer on their peers rather than an Academy of industry elites.
This year’s show was hosted by Kristen Bell, who you may know as Anna from “Frozen” or more recently Joanne in “Nobody Wants This,” for which she was nominated for Best Actress in a Comedy Series.
Bell started the show with a nostalgic montage of various SAG actors in their first roles accompanied by a “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” parody (“Do You Want to be an Actor?”), in an attempt to remind the actors and audience to always remember where they came from and how far they’ve come.
Bell continued the introduction by spotlighting the recent Los Angeles wildfires and how the community had come together to work against and overcome the tragedies it brought. She took the opportunity to acknowledge the L.A. firefighters and various first responders sitting alongside the actors at the night’s event.
There were a few specific titles that dominated the awards. The TV show “Shōgun” definitely made its mark receiving four awards as well as the mystery thriller “Conclave” taking home the night’s award for Best Ensemble.
Actor Timothee Chalamet, known best for his roles as Elio in “Call Me by Your Name” and Nicolas in “Beautiful Boy” made history by taking home the Best Actor award for his performance as Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown” and being the youngest to ever do so at 29 years old.
With the Oscars being the most prestigious award show of the year and approaching soon after the SAG awards, many film lovers use the outcome of the SAG awards to predict the Oscar winners. This year, the Academy Awards took a different direction, awarding Adrien Brody his second Best Actor Oscar for his performance in “The Brutalist” and the Best Picture award going to the independent film “Anora.”
The SAG awards are a chance to appreciate the talent of the performers who have entertained us for years and brought the imagination and storytelling of creative directors and writers to life. Having your hard work credited by people you’ve worked with, competed with, and looked up to is a special opportunity that truly validates the effort, dedication and time that goes into the work of actors.
