‘Sinners’ takes top honors at SAG Actor Awards

Michael B. Jordan holds up two Actor Awards

(Image credit: Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images)

What happened

“Sinners” won the top prize at Sunday night’s Actor Awards, the final major awards show before the Oscars. Ryan Coogler’s Southern vampire drama won best ensemble and its star, Michael B. Jordan, won best male lead actor, in a surprise upset over Timothée Chalamet (“Marty Supreme”). Jessie Buckley won best female actor for “Hamnet,” Amy Madigan took best supporting female actor for “Weapons” and Sean Penn won best supporting male actor for “One Battle After Another.” Formerly called the SAG Awards, the Actors are awarded by the Screen Actors Guild.

Who said what

“I wasn’t expecting this at all,” said Jordan in his acceptance speech. Seth Rogen accepted the best lead female actor comedy award for Catherine O’Hara, his co-star in “The Studio,” who died in January. Harrison Ford teared up accepting a lifetime achievement award. “It is a little weird to be getting a lifetime achievement award at the half-point of my career,” joked the 83-year-old. Most nominees were honored for “their amazing work, while I’m here to receive a prize for being alive.”

The surprise victory for “Sinners” showed it “has a strong chance to win at the Oscars,” The Associated Press said. “One Battle After Another” has had an “almost unblemished run of awards” this season, but “actors make up the largest slice of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,” so the Oscars race is headed for a “potential nail-biter finish.”

What next?

A win at the Actor Awards “can indicate who has momentum in a close Oscar matchup,” The New York Times said. But "few contenders falter at the Oscars when they have as formidable a portfolio as ‘One Battle After Another.’”

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.