There are award seasons, and then there are moments. Sunday night at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles gave us both. The 2026 Actor Awards, the ceremony formerly known as the Screen Actors Guild Awards, saw Ryan Coogler’s Sinners triumph as best ensemble in a motion picture, while Michael B. Jordan was named best lead actor. It was the kind of night where the room felt the weight of what was happening in real time: careers defined, legacies cemented, and in one unforgettable instance, a beloved actress honoured one last time.
The awards, presented by SAG-AFTRA, were hosted for the second year running by Kristen Bell, streaming live on Netflix from the Shrine Auditorium. They arrived at a charged cultural moment, SAG-AFTRA executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland opened the evening by expressing the guild’s hope for peace amid ongoing conflict overseas. The room, full of Hollywood’s biggest names, felt it.
Sinners and the Jordan Upset
Michael B. Jordan’s win for Sinners came as something of an upset, with Timothée Chalamet having been widely considered the front-runner in the category. When his name was called, presented by Viola Davis, Jordan looked genuinely shocked as the audience rose to its feet. “I wasn’t expecting this at all,” he said, before pausing, taking in the room, and adding simply: “Yeah, man, this is pretty cool.”
Coogler’s blues-steeped vampire epic, set in the segregated South, made history this awards season, leading all films with a record-breaking 16 nominations at the upcoming 98th Academy Awards. With the ensemble win, Coogler also became the first director to helm two ensemble cast-winning films, having previously taken the prize with Black Panther in 2019. Castmate Delroy Lindo captured the feeling best from the stage: “This project is anointed,” he said. “We’re all anointed to be part of this incredible journey.”
On the film side, Jessie Buckley took best female actor for Hamnet, while Sean Penn was named best supporting male actor for One Battle After Another, and Amy Madigan won best supporting female actor for Weapons.
The Night’s Hardest Moment
If Jordan’s win brought the room to its feet in jubilation, another moment brought it to its feet in grief. Catherine O’Hara won Outstanding Female Actor in a Comedy Series for Apple TV+’s The Studio, posthumously. O’Hara passed away on January 30 at the age of 71 after a brief illness.
Seth Rogen, co-creator of The Studio and the evening’s earlier winner of best male actor in a comedy series, accepted the award on her behalf. He described a collaborator who would routinely send a polite email the night before a scene with quietly brilliant suggested rewrites, someone who never minimised her own gifts while always lifting those around her. Rogen said O’Hara “showed that you could be a genius and you could be kind.” The crowd gave her a standing ovation. There wasn’t a dry eye in the Shrine.
Television’s Big Winners
On the TV side, The Studio led the night with three awards, including best ensemble in a comedy series, while The Pitt followed closely with two, including best ensemble in a drama series.
Keri Russell pulled off an upset of her own, winning best lead actress in a drama series for The Diplomat, beating out Pluribus‘s Rhea Seehorn. Noah Wyle, already holding an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his role as an emergency room doctor in The Pitt, added an Actor Award to the collection. Michelle Williams won for Dying for Sex, and Owen Cooper took the prize for Adolescence.
Harrison Ford: A Legend Receives His Due
The evening’s most anticipated moment, and perhaps its most tender, came when Woody Harrelson took the stage to present Harrison Ford with the SAG-AFTRA Life Achievement Award. Ford, 83, fought back tears for much of his speech. He told the room he was humbled to receive a prize, joked that it was essentially “for being alive,” and called it the “half point” of his career.
But underneath the self-deprecating wit was something genuinely moving. Ford reflected on a career that was far from an overnight success and called himself “a lucky guy, lucky to have found my people, lucky to have work that challenges me, lucky to still be doing it.” The crowd, which had laughed at Harrelson’s warm roasting introduction, fell completely still. It was one of those rare awards-night speeches that remind you why any of this matters in the first place.
What It All Means
With the Oscars now weeks away, all five Actor Awards nominees for best ensemble in a motion picture, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, and Sinners, are also up for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Sinners arrives at that race anointed, record-breaking, and now in possession of the one prize that Hollywood’s own peers hand out. If history is any guide, that matters. Sunday night made the case, loudly, tearfully, and beautifully, that this is the film of the year.
