At the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, on the 4th of April 2021, the 27th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards were held. This award honors the most worthy achievements in television and film performances for the year past. TBS and TNT both broadcasted the ceremony live at 6:00 PM PST/9:00 PM EST.
Rather than the usual two-hour-long ceremony, the pandemic trimmed it down to one. Adjusting to requirements as such, Daveed Diggs and Lily Collins announced the nominees two months prior via an Insta-Live session.
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Winners of each category were informed a few days before the ceremony telecast, who were asked to record their acceptance speeches. The entire show was pre-taped for the audience to view comfortably within the safe walls of their home. It was necessary to take up these changes to offer protection to the presenters and the nominees at a time when everyone fears for their lives.
Highlights of the Ceremony
Let’s just say that this year’s awards were nothing less than a history textbook chapter for many records were broken. Starting off, for the first time ever, people of color won all four individual film categories.
The late Chadwick Boseman, whose death came as a shock to fans worldwide, earned a record number of nominations in a single ceremony, including the Outstanding Performance from a Cast in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role for Da 5 Bloods. The last nomination was his winning one, making him the first actor to win an award posthumously. Taylor Simone Ledward, Boseman’s widow, accepted the award on his behalf.
Another record was broken by Michael Keaton this year, who became the first actor to win awards Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture thrice, for this performance in Spotlight, Birdman, and The Trials of the Chicago 7.
Uncovering Some Surprising Intel
Right before the SAGs, something interesting surfaced after combing through the previous 25 years for which the awards have been running. Data results revealed that actors are twice as likely to win their individual nominations if they’re been nominated for best cast in the same film.
For the year 2021, the individuals who were also nominated alongside their cast include Chadwick Boseman and Steven Yeun for the lead actor; Viola Davis for the lead actress; Leslie Odom Jr., Sacha Baron Cohen, and Boseman again for the supporting actors; and Youn Yuh-Jung for supporting actress. As the results would duly reveal, all of these nominees won in their respective categories, save for Boseman in a supporting actor’s role.
