SAG steps into new era with old prejudices: Actor Awards rebrand overshadowed by shocking foreign snubs

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announced the nomination lineup of the awards set to be presented by the institute on March 1.

While the ceremony will now take place by the name of the Actor Awards, Hollywood’s foremost acting association seems less interested in any transformation of real essence.

Though the latest shift in the awards brand can be understood in the context of the 2023 SAG-Aftra strike — which put a halt to several film and television productions while the organisation’s associates and supporters took to the streets for the various rights of performers and entertainment crews — the newly announced round of nominations have made it clear that the Actor Awards prefer to honour local craftsmanship in a largely global era.

With the likes of the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs considering talent from a far more diverse body of work, which always includes acknowledgment for foreign titles and performances, SAG’s shocking lack of perspective has not gone down well in a post-Parasite world specifically.

Snubs

The Actor Awards 2026 nominations entirely shut out foreign films — considered frontrunner performances and titles across most of the awards season, actors like Sentimental Value’s Renate Reinsve and Stellan Skarsgård, The Secret Agent’s Wagner Moura, and Lee Byung-hun in the South Korean thriller No Other Choice, all made for incredibly astounding snubs.

While SAG-Aftra has never been particularly revered for its championing of international entertainment faculty, the slate of nominations treading along xenophobia appeared to be even more outstandingly conspicuous in the current political climate.

Previous misses

Notable performances to miss out on SAG acting nominations in recent years are currently being highlighted amid the discussion around the latest slate.

Isabelle Huppert’s acclaimed turn in Elle (2016), Yalitza Aparicio widely nominated one in Roma (2018), and Fernanda Torres’ showing in I’m Still Here (2024) were just some of the actors turned away from SAG nominations in previous years.

Response

The Actor Awards recognising American and English-speaking talent has been deemed controversial for an institute which represents a global industry.

Moreover, with other awards organisations acknowledging and rewarding foreign films and crews, SAG-Aftra would have a hard time justifying their practice — if they bother to do so in the first place.