Stars Light Up SAG Awards

by James Parks, Jan 26, 2009

The Screen Actors honored James Earl Jones for his lifetime achievement as an actor and humanitarian.

Last night, the stars were out in Hollywood as the members of the Screen Actors (SAG) honored their own at the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® show.

The cast of “Slumdog Millionaire” took home the top honor for best performance by a cast in a motion picture.  Meryl Streep and Sean Penn won the awards for best performance by an actress and actor in a leading role for their performances in “Doubt” and “Milk,” respectively.

The other winners included the late Heath Ledger who won best performance as a supporting actor for his role in “The Dark Knight.” On the TV side, Hugh Laurie (”House”) and Sally Field ( Brothers & Sisters) were honored for their performances in a drama series and the cast of “30 Rock” swept the TV comedy category with Alec Baldwin winning best actor, Tina Fey best actress and the entire cast winning the award foir best ensemble.   You can check out all last night’s winners here.

During his remarks, SAG President Alan Rosenberg spoke about the importance of the union to the nation’s actors.

 SAG is a union. We are proud to be union and and we look forward to the day when all workers can have the freedom to join a union.

James Earl Jones received the Lifetime Achievement Award, the union’s highest honor. Jones joins an all-star cast of previous winners, who include Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward (1986), Elizabeth Taylor (1997), Ricardo Montelbán (1993), Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee (2000), Edward Asner (2001), Clint Eastwood (2002), Shirley Temple Black (2005), Julie Andrews (2006) and Charles Durning (2007). 

In an interview with SAG’s magazine, Screen Actor, Jones says the recognition by his peers is special:

So often you think, well is this is a popularity contest? You can never answer that, or disprove it, really. But in this case it is the people who do the same work you do, saying that work is good. And that’s important. 

A large roster of top actors served as presenters, including Christina Applegate, Angela Bassett, Jon Hamm, John Krasinski, Eric McCormack, Kyra Sedgwick, William Shatner and Forest Whitaker. They were joined by Ernest Borgnine, Taye Diggs, Anthony Hopkins, Amy Poehler, SAG President Alan Rosenberg, and Susan Sarandon.

SAG is America’s largest union representing working actors, with 120,000 members in film, TV, commercials, video games, music videos and other new media. The SAG Awards is the only nationally televised awards show of any kind that honors the work of union members.

The SAG awards are the only accolades in the entertainment industry devoted solely to actors honoring actors. Two randomly selected panels—one for television and one for film—each comprised of 2,100 Guild members from across the United States, chose this year’s nominees. The award winners then are chosen in a vote by the union’s members.

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