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Screen Actors Guild Adds to 'Sunshine' Glow

Post by: Sal

The Screen Actors Guild presented "Little Miss Sunshine" with its equivalent of best picture on Sunday (Jan. 28) night.

Between its win for outstanding cast in a motion picture this week and its Producers Guild top prize last weekend, the over-achieving comedy may have transitioned from Oscar dark horse to best picture favorite.

"Little Miss Sunshine" topped fellow Oscar best picture nominees "The Departed" and "Babel" (along with "Bobby" and "Dreamgirls") in the feature ensemble category.

Certainly the other SAG winners are all considered prohibitive Academy Awards frontrunners at this point. The lead actor and actress prizes on Sunday went to Helen Mirren of "The Queen" and Forest Whitaker of "The Last King of Scotland," adding to hefty award season hauls for both actors.

The supporting prizes went to "Dreamgirls" co-stars Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson, both amply decorated this winter.

Television is treated as the second class citizen of the SAG Awards, with most of the small screen trophies being presented earlier in the evening. For the most part, the actors branch followed in the footsteps of the Hollywood Foreign Press, echoing many of the winners from the Golden Globes.

Mirren and Jeremy Irons, stars of HBO's "Elizabeth I" were outstanding female and male actor in a TV movie or miniseries, just like at the Globes, while Alec Baldwin of "30 Rock" and America Ferrera of "Ugly Betty" repeated their out-of-the-box comedy performance Globes wins. In the comedy series category, though, "The Office" won the ensemble prize.

Hugh Laurie of "House" and Chandra Wilson of "Grey's Anatomy" were first-time SAG honorees for outstanding male and female actor in a drama and "Grey's Anatomy" was named outstanding drama series ensemble. The wins for Laurie and "Anatomy" both followed the Golden Globes' example.

The ceremony, held at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium, also saw Julie Andrews receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.