The Screen Actors Guild just made history. Will Oscar follow?

For the first time in 27 tries, the Screen Actors Guild Awards handed their top 4 individual film acting prizes to people of color: three to black actors, and the fourth to a native Korean. If the quartet repeats the feat at the Academy Awards later this month, it will be a first for that organization, too — but it will have come in their 93rd year.

As expected, the late Chadwick Boseman and Daniel Kaluuya took the Male Actor prizes — leading and supporting, respectively — for their performances in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Judas and the Black Messiah. This continues their ongoing sweep of the industry awards, making them virtual locks to end those sweeps on Oscar night.

In the Female Actor categories, Viola Davis won lead for her title turn in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom while South Korean actress Youn Yuh-Jung took the supporting prize for her critics-favorite discovery in Minari. Davis pulled an upset over current Oscar favorite Frances McDormand (Nomadland), while Youn possibly moves into the favorite slot in a supporting race that has so far remained wide open.

With Davis and Boseman both winning for the same film, it sets up some interesting historical possibilities:

• Best Actor and Actress trophies have gone to leads from the same film 6 times in Oscar history. Boseman and Davis would become the 7th. However, all of the 6 previous duos came from films nominated for Best Picture, which Ma Rainey‘s is not.
• If Boseman and Davis win Oscars, it’ll be only the 2nd time that two black actors have won both Lead Academy Awards. The first was in 2001 when Denzel Washington (Training Day) and Halle Berry (Monsters Ball) made history. The feat could also be matched if Boseman wins alongside Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday).

Oh, and what about the Best Cast Ensemble award, SAG’s Best Picture equivalent? That went to The Trial of the Chicago 7, which proved a much-needed boost for its fading Oscar hopes. Even so, SAG’s Ensemble and Oscar’s Picture prizes have only matched 12 out of 26 times, or less than 50%.

As far as the awards ceremony itself, it was an efficient one-hour taped presentation. Ditching the usual in-person dinner gala due to ongoing COVID concerns, all awards presentations, speeches, and in-between fillers was pre-recorded.

The brevity of the whole thing (which also included a full slate of television acting awards) was a huge plus, even if the overall production was serviceable. Still, it was better than the recent awkward live Zoomcasts we’ve had to endure for hours on end.

For the first time in SAG history, no Lifetime Achievement Award was handed out, a good decision given that the honoree would’ve missed out on an in-person reception.

The 27th Screen Actors Guild Awards were handed out on Sunday April 4, 2021, simulcast on TBS and TNT.

(To see the Televsion winners, click here.)

27th Annual
SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARD WINNERS
Films of 2020

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
WINNER: The Trial of the Chicago 7

OTHER NOMINEES:
– Da 5 Bloods
– Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
– Minari
– One Night in Miami…

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
WINNER: Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

OTHER NOMINEES:
– Amy Adams, Hillbilly Elegy
– Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman
– Frances McDormand, Nomadland
– Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
WINNER: Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

OTHER NOMINEES:
– Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
– Anthony Hopkins, The Father
– Gary Oldman, Mank
– Steven Yeun, Minari

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
WINNER: Youn Yuh-Jung, Minari

OTHER NOMINEES:
– Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
– Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy
– Olivia Colman, The Father
– Helena Zengel, News of the World

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
WINNER: Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah

OTHER NOMINEES:
– Chadwick Boseman, Da 5 Bloods
– Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7
– Jared Leto, The Little Things
– Leslie Odom Jr., One Night in Miami…

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
WINNER: Wonder Woman 1984

OTHER NOMINEES:
– Da 5 Bloods
– Mulan
– News of the World
– The Trial of the Chicago 7

Click on links below for other Critics Group Awards and Guild Nominees that have been announced so far for the 2020 / 21 season:

Directors Guild of America Nominations
Producers Guild of America Winners
Critics Choice Award Winners
Golden Globe Award Winners
Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominations
National Board of Review
National Society of Film Critics
Oklahoma Film Critics Circle
Chicago Film Critics Association
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
New York Film Critics Circle
Boston Society of Film Critics