The 29th annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards took place at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles on Sunday night, honoring some of the year’s best television and film performances that were voted on by the actors themselves.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” an inter-dimensional adventure, sweeps away the competition at the event and broke records, becoming the biggest film winner in the history of the show, sweeping nearly every category.
Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis won best lead actress and best supporting actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once, respectively. Their co-star Ke Huy Quan also was a winner, noting that he is now the first Asian actor to win the SAG Award for best-supporting male when accepting his award.
Brendan Fraser won best lead actor for "The Whale".
On the TV side, “Abbott Elementary,” a sitcom about teachers in an underfunded public school, won the best TV comedy ensemble statue, while “The White Lotus”, a trenchant look at the over-privileged guests at an Italian resort, took home the best TV drama ensemble honor.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” one of the few recent indies to break out in a big way at the box office, dominated the evening with four wins, followed by “The White Lotus” with two victories.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” has continued to build momentum during a marathon awards season, racking top prizes as it barrels toward the Oscars in two weeks.
This weekend, it won the Producers Guild Award and last weekend it picked up the Directors Guild Award for Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the filmmaking duo behind the absurdist story of a laundromat owner whose life intersects with parallel universes.
Yeoh was named best actress for “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, and took her time at the podium to note what her victory meant for other Asian movie fans.
Fraser also earned best actor honors for his work as a morbidly obese man in “The Whale”.
A24, the indie studio behind “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “The Whale,” emerged victorious in every film acting category. It was a commanding performance for the company, coming at a time when movies that don’t feature superheroes are struggling to generate attention.
Jason Bateman captured the best actor in a TV drama for playing a money launderer in the final season of “Ozark”, while Jennifer Coolidge received the best actress in a TV drama prize for her role as a spoiled heiress in “The White Lotus”. Coolidge, a character actress who became a breakout star with the HBO series, thanked creator Mike White for creating her role.
“The best gift you can give someone is to change someone’s perspective for the better,” she said.
Jeremy Allen White was named best actor in a TV comedy for his performance as a talented chef trying to save a struggling restaurant in “The Bear”, and Jean Smart won best actress in a TV comedy for her work as a stand-up comic in “Hacks”. Smart, who recently announced that she is recovering from a heart procedure, was not on hand to collect her statue. Her co-star Christopher McDonald accepted on her behalf.
The evening had milestone moments beyond “Everything Everywhere All at Once’s” historic tally. Both Yeoh and her co-star, best-supporting actor winner Ke Huy Quan, became the first Asian performers honored in their categories.
“This moment no longer belongs to just me,” Quan said. “It also belongs to everyone who has asked for change”. Quan, a former child star who appeared in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” said he stepped away from the profession because of a lack of opportunities. “The landscape looks so different here than before,” he said.
There were some notable surprises, as well. Sam Elliott (“1883”) won best actor in a TV movie or mini-series over the heavily favored Evan Peters (“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”) and Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”), while “George and Tammy’s” Jessica Chastain took best actress in a TV movie or mini-series instead of Amanda Seyfried, the Emmy-winning star of “The Dropout.”
Elliott also honored his fellow guild members, calling the prize the most meaningful of his 55-year career because it came “from a group of my peers, many of whom I don’t even know or know only from afar, as a fan who respects their work.”
The show also recognized Sally Field, the Oscar-winning star of “Norma Rae” and “Places in the Heart”, with a lifetime achievement award. Field earned nine SAG nominations throughout her career and won one for outstanding performance in a drama series in 2009 for “Brothers & Sisters”.
Viewing this year’s SAG Awards was a unique experience. The ceremony was live-streamed on Netflix’s
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