SAG Best Actress award winners from the last 25 years
SAG Best Actress award winners from the last 25 years
In March 1995, famed actress Angela Lansbury and her wide-ranging career. In her words, "I've been Elizabeth Taylor's sister, Spencer Tracy's mistress, Elvis' mother, and a singing teapot." So began the first-ever Screen Actors Guild Awards, a ceremony which honors acting in both television and film. The ceremony is hosted by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which is a labor union formed when SAG (founded in 1933) merged with AFTRA (founded in 1937) in 2012. The union boasts that they represent "more than 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcaster journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists, and other professionals."
Their ceremony varies from other major awards, such as the Oscars, for several reasons. Firstly, SAG only doles out 16 awards each year. Secondly, it only honors performers, rather than more all-encompassing awards which also target production teams, make-up, costuming, directing, and more. The SAG awards also give out some unique awards like Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble, which honors an entire cast. They award excellent stunt work, too.
Finally, because it focuses so intently on acting, the major awards of the evening are not necessarily for "best picture," but for best performances. Some awards include Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture, and for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Motion Picture. Cinephiles and entertainment insiders keep their eye on these winners because they're often seen as a precursor to an Oscar win.
Throughout its 25-year history, the SAG Awards have targeted the very best actresses of the day. Among them? Cate Blanchett, Helen Mirren, and Kate Winslet (each with four nominations); Judi Dench (with six nominations total); and Meryl Streep (who has been nominated a whopping 10 times). Using , 麻豆原创 compiled a list of all 25 SAG best actress award winners. Read on to find out what role helped them get the win, who they beat, and other interesting facts. Plus, learn who's up for the award in this year's ceremony on Jan. 19.
1994: Jodie Foster
In 1994, Jodie Foster for playing the lead character in 鈥淣ell,鈥 which follows the story of a feral young woman who has devised her own language. This year, Foster will return to the ceremony to present the award for Outstanding Ensemble.
1995: Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon鈥檚 acting skills shone in 鈥淒ead Man Walking,鈥 in which she starred as a nun offering spiritual counsel to a murderer, played by Sean Penn. Sarandon eventually , and won the corresponding SAG Award, too, despite being up against major contenders like Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson.
1996: Frances McDormand
Film critic Roger Ebert called the Coen brothers鈥 blustery black comedy 鈥淔argo鈥 鈥.鈥 Frances McDormand starred as a pregnant police chief investigating a disturbing murder and spouting loads of hilarious Minnesotan phrases.
1997: Helen Hunt
The romantic comedy 鈥淎s Good As It Gets鈥 features two powerhouse actors: Jack Nicholson as a cynical, rude, OCD novelist and Helen Hunt as a waitress and single mother. The pair pulled off an impressive feat, , respectively.
1998: Gwyneth Paltrow
"Shakespeare in Love" captures a fictional relationship between the famed poet (played by Joseph Fiennes) and a woman and aspiring actress named Viola de Lesseps (played by Gwyneth Paltrow). As The New York Times' , "Gwyneth Paltrow, in her first great, fully realized starring performance, makes a heroine so breathtaking that she seems utterly plausible as the playwright's guiding light. In a film steamy enough to start a sonnet craze, her Viola de Lesseps really does seem to warrant the most timeless love poems." Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that Paltrow snagged a SAG Award for the role.
1999: Annette Bening
Famous for featuring a rose-adorned, otherwise nude teenage girl, 鈥淎merican Beauty鈥 tells the story of a disillusioned suburban family. Annette Bening embodies a real estate broker embroiled in an affair and trapped in a stale relationship. Bening beat out Hilary Swank, who was nominated for her role in "Boys Don鈥檛 Cry," though, later, .
2000: Julia Roberts
鈥淓rin Brockovich,鈥 in which Julia Roberts played the titular role, tells a version of the real-life story of a lawyer fighting against wrongdoings by Pacific Gas and Electric Company. , 鈥淸T]he actress seizes the film's eponymous role with fire-in-her-eyes possessiveness and injects the character with all the energy and drive she can muster. Her performance is a true star turn.鈥 Roberts won both the SAG and Oscar awards for her deft acting.
2001: Halle Berry
鈥淢onster鈥檚 Ball鈥 follows a corrections officer who becomes entangled with a woman who is secretly the widow of a man he had executed. Though 鈥淢onster鈥檚 Ball鈥 featured some heavy-hitters鈥擝illy Bob Thornton, Peter Boyle, Heath Ledger, and Mos Def among them鈥擝erry鈥檚 performance as the widow is considered among her very best. Not only did she win the SAG award, but she became .
2002: Ren茅e Zellweger
When Ren茅e Zellweger embodied Roxie Hart, the murderous heroine at the heart of 鈥淐hicago,鈥 she sang and danced her way into critics鈥 and audiences鈥 hearts. Most cinephiles knew her as a sweet-faced ingenue, which made her turn into a cruel, exacting wannabe even more fascinating. , 鈥淶ellweger is not a born hoofer, but then again Roxie Hart isn't supposed to be a star; the whole point is that she isn't, and what Zellweger invaluably contributes to the role is Roxie's dreamy infatuation with herself, and her quickly growing mastery of publicity.鈥
2003: Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron hardly looked anything like herself playing Aileen "Lee" Wuornos, a serial killer and sex worker, in "Monster." Her transformation went beyond . By and large, critics called her performance transfixing. She beat out Evan Rachel Wood, who, at 16, was the youngest nominee ever for her role in "Thirteen."
2004: Hilary Swank
Hilary Swank was the first actress to win two SAG awards for Best Actress. In 2004, she got the honor for beside actor-director Clint Eastwood, playing a female boxer. The film would later win seven Oscars, including one for Swank鈥檚 performance and Best Picture.
2005: Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon beat Judi Dench, Felicity Huffman, Charlize Theron, and Ziyi Zhang for her role as June Carter in 鈥淲alk the Line.鈥 A mashup between two biographies of Johnny Cash, the film follows the country music star鈥檚 tumultuous love affair with Carter,
2006: Helen Mirren
Royalty was a hot topic for SAG in 2006: Forest Whitaker won Best Actor for his role in 鈥淭he Last King of Scotland鈥 while Helen Mirren won Best Actress for (Though, of course, the Mirren film was about actual royalty in the wake of Princess Diana鈥檚 death, while the Whitaker role was about a cruel military officer.) Mirren also won an Academy Award for that part.
2007: Julie Christie
With Cate Blanchett, Marion Cotillard, Angelina Jolie, and Ellen Page in the running, few could have predicted that Julie Christie might have won. While Christie had many accolades to her name, including an Academy Award for 鈥淒arling鈥 and a role in 鈥淒octor Zhivago,鈥 her 2007 SAG-winning part was in 鈥淎way from Her,鈥 an independent Canadian film, .
2008: Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep has been nominated for this award the most of any actress ever with 10 nominations in all. Based on a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play, "Doubt" follows the drama between nuns running a Catholic school and a young black student. As The Guardian , "At the center are two of the finest actors alive, Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Once again, they prove capable of transforming themselves, creating persuasive characters without adopting excessive make-up or a battery of eccentric mannerisms."
2009: Sandra Bullock
Based on a non-fiction book by Michael Lewis, 鈥淭he Blind Side鈥 follows a young man who fights an impoverished upbringing, gets adopted, and becomes a professional football player. Sandra Bullock plays that young man鈥檚 adoptive mother. , Bullock also won an Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture.
2010: Natalie Portman
鈥淏lack Swan鈥 pits two fierce ballerinas, played by Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, against each other. As Portman鈥檚 character, obsessed with self-control, loses ground, the movie turns frightening and almost supernatural. The construction of the film and Portman鈥檚 electrifying acting led to a product that鈥檚 still among film buffs.
2011: Viola Davis
Viola Davis prevailed over Glenn Close, Tilda Swinton, Michelle Williams, and Meryl Streep to win for her role in 鈥淭he Help.鈥 Based on the book of the same name, the film chronicles an aspiring Southern journalist (played by Emma Stone) and her relationship to several black maids amid the civil rights movement. However, Davis later told The New York Times that . 鈥淚 just felt that at the end of the day that it wasn鈥檛 the voices of the maids that were heard,鈥 she said.
2012: Jennifer Lawrence
Though 鈥淲inter鈥檚 Bone鈥 helped Jennifer Lawrence break through, and 鈥淴-Men鈥 and 鈥淭he Hunger Games鈥 propelled her to stardom, 鈥淪ilver Linings Playbook鈥 solidified her celebrity and earned the starlet her first SAG award for Best Actress. At just 22 years old, Lawrence .
2013: Cate Blanchett
In 2013, Cate Blanchett secured the SAG award for her starring role in "Blue Jasmine," a black comedy wherein a down-on-her-luck, once-rich New Yorker moves in with her sister in San Francisco. Many said the "Blue Jasmine" seemed to be director Woody Allen's tribute to Tennessee Williams. , "Blue Jasmine Is Woody Allen's Streetcar Named Desire, With a Madoff Twist."
2014: Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore took on the heartbreaking role of Alice Howland, a professor diagnosed with Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, in 鈥淪till Alice.鈥 Moore apparently , which would win her the SAG award. In particular, she met many Alzheimer鈥檚 patients. As a result, dementia patients reported in one Guardian story that the movie .
2015: Brie Larson
Based on a novel of the same name, 鈥淩oom鈥 chronicles the terrifying saga of a woman and her son held captive in a room. , 鈥淎s for the performances, Brie Larson and seven-year-old Jacob Tremblay are nothing short of perfect as the central couple around whom this trembling universe revolves.鈥
2016: Emma Stone
Up against Amy Adams in 鈥淎rrival,鈥 Emily Blunt in 鈥淭he Girl on the Train,鈥 Natalie Portman in 鈥淛ackie,鈥 and Meryl Streep in 鈥淔lorence Foster Jenkins,鈥 wide-eyed American sweetheart Emma Stone won for her co-starring role in 鈥淟a La Land.鈥 It may be no surprise that Hollywood types loved this particular tale about an aspiring actress and a jazz artist trying to hustle and make it in Los Angeles. Stone had which likely helped her take on the role, as "La La Land" was a musical, too.
2017: Frances McDormand
After her 鈥淔argo鈥 win, Frances McDormand won yet again for 鈥淭hree Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri鈥 in 2017. McDormand wasn鈥檛 the only one honored for the film. The other actors in the film, including Abbie Cornish, Peter Dinklage, Woody Harrelson, John Hawkes, Lucas Hedges, and Sam Rockwell .
2018: Glenn Close
"The Wife," based on Meg Wolitzer's novel of the same name, is about the wife of a famous author. Her resentments and her role in his success are pivotal to the film, and the part was played artfully by Glenn Close. At 71, Close in this particular award's history.
2019 nominees
- Cynthia Erivo
- Scarlett Johansson
- Lupita Nyong鈥檕
- Charlize Theron
- Ren茅e Zellweger
2019 will see some past winners, including Charlize Theron for playing Fox anchor Megyn Kelly in 鈥淏ombshell鈥 and Ren茅e Zellweger as Judy Garland in 鈥淛udy,鈥 nominated. Scarlett Johansson will also have her hand at the award for playing a woman amid a nasty divorce in 鈥淢arriage Story,鈥 and so will Lupita Nyong鈥檕, for playing a dual, terrifying role in the horror film 鈥淯s.鈥 (Nyong鈥檕 was honored last year as part of the ensemble in 鈥淏lack Panther.鈥) Relative newcomer British actress Cynthia Erivo is also nominated as Harriet Tubman in the film 鈥淗arriet.鈥