This Is Us takes top SAG series award
LOS ANGELES (AP) — “This Is Us” won the top drama series trophy at Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards, making up for the Emmy and Golden Globe honours that eluded it and taking a stand for broadcast network TV amid growing online competition.
“The people that watch with us every Tuesday night and embrace this show that reflects positivity and hope and inclusion, we love you,” said Milo Ventimiglia, accepting the award for best drama series cast on behalf of his co-stars in the time-tripping show about a racially blended family.
It overcame formidable non-broadcast competition, including streaming service Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which is seen by its admirers as a political parable for today and won multiple Emmys and Globes.
“This Is Us” star Sterling K. Brown, a winner at those other ceremonies, added a SAG trophy to his collection.
Claire Foy won the trophy for best TV drama series actress in “The Crown,” in which she plays a young Queen Elizabeth, while Julia Louis-Dreyfus captured her third SAG award for her role as a failed politician in “Veep,” which was honoured for best comedy series cast.
Neither actress was on hand to accept the award. Louis-Dreyfus, who has been battling cancer, is working on a play, the audience was told.
William H. Macy, who stars as a deeply flawed patriarch in “Shameless” captured a third trophy for his role. He used his speech to drive home a political point, calling it the privilege of actors to use fiction to bring honesty to their audiences.
Two of the night’s TV nominees, Geoffrey Rush of “Genius” and Aziz Ansari of “Master of None,” are among the Hollywood heavyweights facing various degrees of sexual misconduct claims. Rush attended the ceremony; Ansari, a Golden Globes winner earlier this month, did not. Neither won.
Nicole Kidman, carrying her awards sweep for the female-centric TV miniseries “Big Little Lies” through Sunday’s SAG Awards, said the entertainment industry must stand with women if they are to continue exercising their power.
Kidman added SAG’s best female actor trophy to Emmy and Golden Globe awards for her portrayal of an abused wife. She also produced the drama with Reese Witherspoon, her co-star, a sign of the growing strength of women that Kidman said isn’t a given.
Alexander Skarsgard, who played Kidman’s husband in “Big Little Lies,” won the best male actor trophy for his role.