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)