"Little Miss
Sunshine" wins top SAG Award

Quirky comedy Little Miss Sunshine won the top prize at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, giving the underdog film about a family of losers a big boost in the race for February 25's Oscars.

Meanwhile, Forest Whitaker and Helen Mirren seemed to solidify their Oscar hopes by winning SAG's Best Actor and Actress awards for their uncanny performances of world figures.

Actors make up the largest single voting group at the Oscars, and last year their favorite, Crash, scored an upset victory over front-runner Brokeback Mountain.

Whitaker won for his portrayal of Uganda's brutal dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland, and Mirren won for her performance as Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen.

The naming of Little Miss Sunshine as Best Ensemble Cast performance seemed to come as a shock to the cast.

"I'm completely floored by this. It means a great deal to us," said Greg Kinnear, who plays the father in the film. He said no one expected the film to come as far.

But whether it is bound for an Oscar victory is a difficult question. The film also won another major industry award from the Producers Guild, but it has tough competition from its rivals in the Academy's Best Picture category, including Martin Scorsese's The Departed and Babel.

Mirren won SAG Awards both for her work as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen and for Best Actress in a Television Movie or Miniseries for her work as the original Elizabeth in the HBO drama Elizabeth I.

Mirren said she felt she'd been hit by a tsunami. "I am still reeling from the whole night," she said.

Three of the last four winners of SAG's award for Best Ensemble Cast performance have gone on to win the Oscar for Best Picture.

Comedian Eddie Murphy and newcomer Jennifer Hudson, a former American Idol contestant, were named Best Supporting Actor and Actress for their performances in Dreamgirls.

Murphy plays a James Brown-type singer who falls on hard times in the film based on the rise of a Supremes-like group, and Hudson plays a singer expelled from the group.

Jeremy Irons won for Best Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries for his work in Elizabeth I.

In television awards, Grey's Anatomy was named Best Ensemble Drama, and The Office was named Best Ensemble Comedy.

Two "doctors" scored major victories. Chandra Wilson was named Best Actress in a Drama Series for her work as a tough-minded doctor nicknamed "The Nazi" in Grey's Anatomy, and Hugh Laurie for his work as the brilliant but snappish physician in House.

Alec Baldwin was named Best Actor in a Comedy Series for his work in 30 Rock, and America Ferrera was named Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her work in Ugly Betty.

Ferrera, who plays a homely office worker, said she thought television was becoming more realistic in its acceptance of minorities and less-than-beautiful people as role models. (Reuters)