“Sinners,” a vampire movie that unfolds in the segregated South, triumphed at the 2026 Actor Awards on Sunday night, winning the top prize for best ensemble in a motion picture while its star Michael B. Jordan was named best lead actor.
“The Studio,” a sendup of many of the powerbrokers in the show’s audience, won a leading three awards, including best ensemble in a comedy series. “The Pitt,” a gritty medical drama, was close behind with two awards, including best ensemble in a drama series.
The prizes, which were known as the Screen Actors Guild Awards until the name was changed last November, are handed out by the labor union, SAG-AFTRA, and honor the best performances on both the big and small screens.
On the film front, Jessie Buckley was named best lead actress for playing a grief-stricken mother in “Hamnet,” while Jordan was recognized for his turn as bootlegging twins in “Sinners.”
“Just being in this room right now with all these people who saw me grow up in front of the camera…I feel the love and support that you’ve always given me and encouraged me to go on and do my best,” a clearly stunned Jordan said.
Ryan Coogler, the director of “Sinners,” made history, becoming the first director to helm two best ensemble winners in the history of the Actor Awards. He previously won the top prize with 2018’s “Black Panther.”
The Actor Awards are seen as an important precursor to the Oscars, which will take place on March 15.
The film, which has a record-breaking 16 nominations, is locked in a tight race with “One Battle After Another,” which won big at the Directors Guild Awards and the Producers Guild Awards
Supporting actor prizes went to two villainous performances, with Sean Penn winning for playing a demented soldier in “One Battle After Another” and Amy Madigan honored for portraying a literal witch in “Weapons.”
“Actors love other actors — they just love being with them,” Madigan said about a prize handed out by her fellow entertainers.
Seth Rogen, the co-creator of “The Studio,” earned the prize of lead actor in a comedy series for playing a hapless movie chief. His co-star Catherine O’Hara, who died in January at age 71, was a posthumous winner for lead actress. Rogen accepted her prize and reflected on O’Hara’s habit of offering suggestions that enhanced her character and “The Studio.”
“I’ve just been marveling over the last few weeks [at] her ability to be generous and kind and gracious, while never ever minimizing her own talents and her own ability to contribute to the work that we were doing,” Rogen said. “She knew she could destroy, and she wanted to destroy every day on set.”
In an upset, Keri Russell, who plays a wily ambassador in “The Diplomat,” was named best lead actress in a drama series over “Pluribus’s” Rhea Seehorn. Noah Wyle, who has previously nabbed an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his performance as an emergency room doctor in “The Pitt,” added a statue for lead actor in a drama series to his trophy case.
Michelle Williams won best actress in a limited series for playing a woman with terminal cancer in “Dying for Sex.” Owen Cooper, the 16-year-old star of “Adolescence,” beat out his co-star Stephen Graham in the best actor in a limited series category.
Harrison Ford, the star of blockbuster franchises like “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones,” won the Lifetime Achievement Award. “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,” Ford, who fought back tears at various points in his speech, said.
But the night wasn’t entirely celebratory. The Actor Awards were held as the U.S. and Israel are engaged in war with Iran. “Our thoughts are with all those whose lives are in danger overseas right now, and I think if there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that we wish for peace and we mourn those whose lives have been lost,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, executive director of SAG-AFTRA, told the audience shortly before the ceremony kicked off.
Kristen Bell hosted the awards show for the second year in a row on Netflix. The streamer made headlines this week after it bowed out from a heated bidding war with Paramount Skydance to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, the company behind “The Pitt” and “Sinners.” Paramount, which won a single prize at the Actor Awards for the latest “Mission: Impossible’s” stunts, has a deal to buy the media conglomerate for $110 billion.
See the full list of winners below.
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Timothée Chalamet - Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio - One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke - Blue Moon
Michael B. Jordan - Sinners - WINNER
Jesse Plemons - Bugonia
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Jessie Buckley - Hamnet - WINNER
Rose Byrne - If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
Kate Hudson - Song Sung Blue
Chase Infiniti - One Battle After Another
Emma Stone - Bugonia
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Miles Caton - Sinners
Benicio del Toro - One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi - Frankenstein
Paul Mescal - Hamnet
Sean Penn - One Battle After Another - WINNER
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Odessa A’zion - Marty Supreme
Ariana Grande - Wicked: For Good
Amy Madigan - Weapons - WINNER
Wunmi Mosaku - Sinners
Teyana Taylor - One Battle After Another
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners - WINNER
TV
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series
Jason Bateman - Black Rabbit
Owen Cooper - Adolescence - WINNER
Stephen Graham - Adolescence
Charlie Hunnam - Monster: The Ed Gein Story
Matthew Rhys - The Beast in Me
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series
Claire Danes - The Beast in Me
Erin Doherty - Adolescence
Sarah Snook - All Her Fault
Christine Tremarco - Adolescence
Michelle Williams - Dying for Sex - WINNER
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Sterling K. Brown - Paradise
Billy Crudup - The Morning Show
Walton Goggins - The White Lotus
Gary Oldman - Slow Horses
Noah Wyle - The Pitt - WINNER
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Britt Lower - Severance
Parker Posey - The White Lotus
Keri Russell - The Diplomat - WINNER
Rhea Seehorn - Pluribus
Aimee Lou Wood - The White Lotus
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Ike Barinholtz - The Studio
Adam Brody - Nobody Wants This
Ted Danson - A Man on the Inside
Seth Rogen - The Studio - WINNER
Martin Short - Only Murders in the Building
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Kathryn Hahn - The Studio
Catherine O'Hara - The Studio - WINNER
Jenna Ortega - Wednesday
Jean Smart - Hacks
Kristen Wiig - Palm Royale
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
The Diplomat
Landman
The Pitt - WINNER
Severance
The White Lotus
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
Abbott Elementary
The Bear
Hacks
Only Murders in the Building
The Studio - WINNER
Stunts
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
F1
Frankenstein
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning - WINNER
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
Andor
Landman
The Last of Us - WINNER
Squid Game
Stranger Things
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