Leonardo DiCaprio and Cate Blanchett are union members. So are Clare Danes, Louis C.K., and Peter Dinklage. They’ll all be in Los Angeles Jan. 30 as nominees for their union’s highest honor — the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Unlike the better-known Academy Awards, SAG Awards are decided exclusively by their fellow practitioners: All 116,741 members of SAG-AFTRA get ballots and can watch the entries online. The SAG Awards are also unlike the Oscars in that they are for film and television, and they include categories that honor outstanding performances by entire casts, not just individuals. With a gala dinner, an auction, and sales of bleacher seats to the red carpet affair, the event also raises funds for the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, which funds a childrens literacy program and provides scholarships and health and financial assistance to members and their families.
“Yes it’s glitzy and glamorous, but really it’s about celebrating our union,” says SAG-AFTRA national board member Mary McDonald-Lewis, a Portland voice actor and dialect coach.
McDonald-Lewis said she’s especially excited this year about the nominations for Trumbo, a true-to-life film about Hollywood radicalism, and for performances in the Big Short and 99 Homes, both which are about financial fraud in the mortgage industry.
Watch the 22nd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards live Saturday, Jan. 30, 5-7 pm (PST) on TNT and TBS
SEE THE FULL LIST OF NOMINEES: HERE.
SEE ALSO: How the Oscars began as a tool for union-avoidance
