Michael B Jordan, Jessie Buckley at 2026 Actor Awards

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Michael B Jordan, Jessie Buckley at 2026 Actor Awards

Are you watching, Academy? Michael B. Jordan and Sinners pulled off major upsets in the lead male actor and ensemble categories at the Actor Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday night (March 1), while Jessie Buckley confirmed her Oscar frontrunner status with the lead female actor win for Hamnet.

Sinners cast member Delroy Lindo – who last weekend was involved in the Baftas racial slur controversy while he presented alongside Jordan – gave the address as Jordan and the key cast watched on at the podium at Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.

By winning the ensemble award, Ryan Coogler’s socially-conscious vampire epic bolstered its best picture Oscar credentials. SAG-AFTRA’s award winners are highly influential because the actors make up the largest Academy voting bloc. Academy members are in the middle of selecting their winners ahead of the 98th Academy Awards on March 15 and the final voting window closes on March 5.

Jordan meanwhile may have just turned the Academy Awards lead actor contest on its head after his dual role as Smoke and Stack edged out the hitherto frontrunners Leonardo Di Caprio, for his portrayal as the frazzled former revolutionary in One Battle After Another, and Marty Supreme’s Timothée Chalamet, who plays a wildly ambitious table tennis prodigy. Chalamet won SAG-AFTRA’s lead male award last year for A Complete Unknown.

Buckley cemented her status as the Oscar shoo-in this season for her performance in Focus Features’ Hamnet as Agnes, the grieving wife of William Shakespeare. She is arguably the clearest frontrunner alongside KPop Demon Hunters in the animated category and One Battle After Another’s Sean Penn in the male supporting actor race. 

Penn was not in attendance to collect his supporting male Actor award on Sunday for playing the pathologically driven Col. Steven J. Lockjaw, however Amy Madigan was on hand to receive her prize for playing Aunt Gladys, the witch in Weapons who became an instant pop culture icon, noting amid giggles and gasps that this was her first ever nomination from the Guild.

The Actor Award has done Madigan’s Oscar prospects no harm in a tight contest, although the last person to win a female supporting actor Academy Award for a film not nominated for best picture was Regina King seven years ago with If Beale Street Could Talk.

Warner Bros films 

After One Battle After Another won the PGA Award on Saturday and Paul Thomas Anderson took the DGA win last month, Sunday delivered the latest emphatic stamp of approval from Hollywood’s creative community for the vision of Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy. The co-heads of the Warner Bros motion picture group oversaw a remarkable year for the studio in 2025 when they delivered a string of number one hits and $4.4bn in global box office.

Yet the studio’s future now hangs in the balance following last week’s $110bn merger between Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) and David Ellison’s Paramount. The horizontal consolidation augurs many layoffs at two of the most storied studios in Hollywood history, although the merger deal approved by the boards of WBD and Paramount will have to secure the vote of WBD shareholders and satisfy regulators in the US and Europe before it can be consummated.

One Battle After Another and Sinners started the night with the most nominations on seven and five, respectively. In the end One Battle won one award for Penn, and Sinners earned two. Both wins won top awards at Friday’s American Cinema Editors’ 76th Annual ACE Eddie Awards.

In television, Apple TV’s The Studio won best comedy ensemble, actor for Seth Rogen, and female actor for the late Catherine O’Hara, who died in January. HBO Max’s The Pitt took drama ensemble honours and Noah Wyle won best dramatic actor. Owen Wilson beat out his Adolescence co-star and show co-creator Stephen Graham in the TV movie or limited series male actor category.

An emotional, eloquent Harrison Ford collected the life achievement award from his friend Woody Harrelson. “As actors we get to live many lives,” Ford said. “We all share the privilege of working the world of ideas, of empathy, of imagination […] I’m indeed a lucky guy. Lucky to have found my people. Lucky to have work that challenges me. Lucky to still be doing it.” Thanking SAG-AFTA he signed off to loud applause: “This is very encouraging.”

Kristen Bell hosted the show, which was rebranded as the Actors Awards last November ”to provide clearer recognition in terms of what the show is about for our domestic and global audiences”. The show aired for the second consecutive year on Netflix, who last week walked away from its pursuit of Warner Bros’ streaming and studios business.

In his address, SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin sent a message of peace amid global conflict, and said the negotiating committee was working hard to secure a good deal in its ongoing contract renewal talks with the studios. Astin also thanked Netflix for live-streaming the show and named-checked co-CEO Ted Sarandos, who was in the audience, although the camera zoomed in instead on chief content officer Bela Bajaria.

Winners appear below in bold.

FILM

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

  • Timothée Chalamet - Marty Supreme
  • Leonardo DiCaprio - One Battle After Another
  • Ethan Hawke - Blue Moon
  • Michael B Jordan - Sinners
  • Jesse Plemons - Bugonia

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

  • Jessie Buckley - Hamnet
  • Rose Byrne - If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
  • Kate Hudson - Song Sung Blue
  • Chase Infiniti - One Battle After Another
  • Emma Stone – Bugonia

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

  • Miles Caton - Sinners
  • Benicio Del Toro - One Battle After Another
  • Jacob Elordi - Frankenstein
  • Paul Mescal - Hamnet
  • Sean Penn - One Battle After Another

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

  • Odessa A’Zion - Marty Supreme
  • Ariana Grande - Wicked: For Good
  • Amy Madigan - Weapons
  • Wunmi Mosaku - Sinners
  • Teyana Taylor - One Battle After Another

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

  • Frankenstein
  • Hamnet
  • Marty Supreme
  • One Battle After Another
  • Sinners

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

  • F1
  • Frankenstein
  • Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
  • One Battle After Another
  • Sinners

TELEVISION

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series

  • Jason Bateman - Black Rabbit
  • Owen Cooper - Adolescence
  • Stephen Graham - Adolescence
  • Charlie Hunnam - Monster: The Ed Gein Story
  • Matthew Rhys - The Beast In Me

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series

  • Claire Danes - The Beast In Me
  • Erin Doherty - Adolescence
  • Sarah Snook - All Her Fault
  • Christine Tremarco - Adolescence
  • Michelle Williams - Dying For Sex

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

  • Sterling K Brown - Paradise
  • Billy Crudup - The Morning Show
  • Walter Goggins - The White Lotus
  • Gary Oldman - Slow Horses
  • Noah Wyle - The Pitt

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

  • Britt Lower - Severance
  • Parker Posey - The While Lotus
  • Keri Russell - The Diplomat
  • Rhea Seehorn - Pluribus
  • Aimee Lou Wood - The White Lotus

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series

  • Ike Barinholtz - The Studio
  • Adam Brody - Nobody Wants This
  • Ted Danson - A Man On The Inside
  • Seth Rogen - The Studio
  • Martin Short - Only Murders In The Building

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series

  • Kathryn Hahn - The Studio
  • Catherine O’Hara - The Studio
  • Jenna Ortega - Wednesday
  • Jean Smart - Hacks
  • Kristen Wiig - Palm Royale

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

  • The Diplomat
  • The Pitt
  • Landman
  • Severance
  • The White Lotus

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

  • Abbot Elementary
  • The Bear
  • Hacks
  • Only Murders
  • The Studio

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Serie

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