After 30 years, the Display screen Actors Guild Awards is being renamed. The award present debuted on NBC in 1995, with George Burns receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award, and actors like Tom Hanks, Jodie Foster, Dianne Wiest and Helen Hunt strolling away as winners.
The SAG Awards is offered by the Display screen Actors Guild, which merged with the American Federation of Tv and Radio Artists (AFTRA) in 2012. SAG-AFTRA elected Sean Astin as president in September.
13 years after the merging of SAG and AFTRA, the labor union has determined to downplay SAG within the title of its awards present by renaming the telecast The Actor Awards offered by SAG-AFTRA (or The Actor Awards, for brief), in response to Deadline.
The explanation for this variation is in order that the title not solely displays the present standing of the group, however it additionally aligns with the statuette itself, which known as The Actor.
In an announcement, The Actor Awards showrunner Jon Brockett mentioned that this main change is merely a mirrored image of the present’s “evolution” whereas maintaining the main target “fully about actors.”
For the reason that starting, our statue has been known as ‘The Actor’ and we’re a present that’s fully about actors, so this new title is an ideal subsequent step within the present’s evolution. The Actor Awards offered by SAG-AFTRA offers viewers in 190-plus nations an instantaneous understanding of who we’re and what we’re about.
Actress JoBeth Williams, who served because the SAG Basis president and chair of the SAG Awards Committee, added that the group needed to make it “crystal clear to audiences” that The Actor Awards is an “actor-focused” present, not simply because of the winners themselves but in addition the truth that the voting members are additionally actors.
As an actor and a longtime SAG-AFTRA member and chair of the Awards Committee, I’ve at all times cherished that our present is actor targeted—actors voting for actors—as a result of we perceive innately the work that goes right into a efficiency. The Actor Awards makes that crystal clear to audiences all over the place: after they tune in, they know they’re going to see their favourite actors celebrated by those that really know the craft.
Williams, as a part of the Awards Committee, has been working with SAG-AFTRA from begin to end. They authorized the brand new title after which ensured a clean rollout.
Talking of which, this announcement is coming a couple of month earlier than nomination voting begins on December 15. As a consequence of this brief timeframe, SAG-AFTRA has determined that studio campaigns can nonetheless use the SAG Awards title when selling its exhibits and stars–but just for the present awards season.
Starting with subsequent yr’s voting interval, studios want to start out utilizing the brand new moniker.
After nomination voting closes on January 4, 2026, Actor Award nominations shall be introduced the morning of January 7. Members will vote from January 14 to February 27. Then the awards present itself will stream reside on Netflix at 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST on March 1, 2026.
The favored streamer’s partnership with the SAG Awards/Actor Awards began in 2023 when Netflix live-streamed the present on YouTube. The streaming service itself began internet hosting the telecast in 2024. Earlier than that, the SAG Awards had aired on numerous networks, together with NBC, TNT and TBS.
Over the previous 30 years, the awards present has solely had three hosts, beginning with No person Needs This forged member Kristen Bell in 2018; she returned in 2025.
Will & Grace‘s Megan Mullally hosted in 2019, and film star Idris Elba opened the present in 2024.
|
SAG Awards |
Hosts |
|
2018 |
Kristen Bell |
|
2019 |
Megan Mullally |
|
2024 |
Idris Elba |
|
2025 |
Kristen Bell |
A bunch for the 2026 Actor Awards has not been introduced but, but when it does have a number, they are going to possible be introduced someday over the subsequent couple of months.
The Display screen Actors Guild Awards being renamed The Actor Awards does not change the rest concerning the present itself. Whereas it’d take some getting used to, the rebranding will ultimately be ingrained into the lexicon of the leisure business because the precursor to the Oscars charts a brand new path ahead.