About | Actor Awards

THE ACTOR AWARDS PRESENTED BY SAG-AFTRA®

The Actor Awards is the only awards ceremony to exclusively honor actors, presenting 15 awards in film and television. Voted on by SAG-AFTRA's robust and diverse membership of 160,000+ performers, The Actor Awards has the largest voting body on the awards circuit. Beloved for its style, authenticity, and genuine warmth, the show has become acting's biggest night and one of awards season's most prized honors.

Celebrating Actors Since 1995

The Actor Awards began with a simple idea: create an awards show by actors, for actors.

The first ceremony was held in 1995, establishing a tradition that continues more than three decades later. From individual performances to the collaborative work of motion picture and television casts and ensembles, the Actor Awards recognize the full breadth of the craft and the artists who bring stories to life. The night of celebration centers on actors and their work, bringing together established icons, emerging talent, and the broader acting community to celebrate one another.

More Than an Awards Show

The Actor Awards also celebrates the larger community that supports performers throughout their lives and careers.

Through its longstanding connection with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, the Awards help shine a light on the Foundation’s work providing vital assistance and educational programming to SAG-AFTRA artists, as well as its Emmy-nominated children’s literacy program, Storyline Online.

The ceremony also honors an actor whose career and humanitarian accomplishments embody the highest ideals of the profession with the SAG-AFTRA Life Achievement Award, the union’s highest tribute.

The 33rd Annual Actor Awards Presented by SAG-AFTRA will stream live on NETFLIX on February 28, 2027 at 8pm ET / 5pm PT

SAG-AFTRA

SAG-AFTRA represents 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. SAG-AFTRA members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world. SAG-AFTRA members work together to secure the strongest protections for media artists into the 21st century and beyond.

The Actor Awards is more than a ceremony — it is a community celebrating itself. Voted on by performers, given to performers, the honor reflects an intimate understanding of craft only artists can extend to one another.

Beyond the show, SAG-AFTRA's mission spans contract negotiations, residuals, healthcare, and the long-term wellbeing of its members across an industry in constant motion.

I AM AN ACTOR

When the first Screen Actors Guild Awards® were presented on March 8, 1995, the ceremony opened with a speech by Angela Lansbury that gave the audience a little history of her as a performer: "I've been Elizabeth Taylor's sister, Spencer Tracy's mistress, Elvis' mother and a singing teapot."

Thus began a tradition of the Screen Actors Guild Awards® opening with a distinguished actor telling the audience a bit about their perceptions of their craft or some brief biographical anecdote. For the SAG Awards®, the first eight years of that tradition was carried on by a single actor each year, with Michael Keaton, Dennis Hopper, John Lithgow, Kathy Bates, Whoopi Goldberg, James Woods and Sir Ian McKellen following in Lansbury's footsteps.

For the 9th Annual SAG Awards®, a new twist on the tradition was incorporated. By having actors tell shorter stories, it would allow room for actors of all ages and backgrounds to tell tales with many different emotional tones.

Since the Inaugural Screen Actors Guild Awards, more than 120 actors have told their stories, typically closing with their name and the signature line, "I am an actor."