‘You can be a genius and be kind’: Seth Rogen accepts posthumous award for Catherine O’Hara

Australian stars Sarah Snook and Jacob Elordi have both been pipped in their respective categories at the Actor Awards on Monday (AEDT).

Elordi, who stunned with his performance as Frankenstein’s monster, lost to Sean Penn (One Battle After Another) in the best supporting actor category, and Snook, who was nominated for All Her Fault, was edged out by Michelle Williams (Dying For Sex) in best actress in a limited series.

Keri Russell and Seth Rogen have also clinched early wins. The former scooped the trophy for outstanding performance by an actress in a drama series with The Diplomat, and the latter won best actor in a comedy series for his role in The Studio.

“Hello, wow, this is a great award show,” Rogen said while accepting his award. “They got food and drink and shit. It’s not 100 million degrees in here. You’re able to pay your employees enough to keep the show from being cancelled – take notes WGA. It’s a true honour to be here … I thought about whether my ego would be strong enough to withstand losing to Ike [Barinholz, his co-star on The Studio]. I’m glad I don’t need to find out. I would have been meaner to you at work.”

In a particularly emotional moment, Catherine O’Hara won best actress in a comedy series for her role in The Studio just over a month after her death. An emotional Rogen returned to the stage to accept the trophy on her behalf.

“I was asked to assume the very sad honour of accepting this award on O’Hara’s behalf,” Rogen, who worked with O’Hara on The Studio, said. “I know she would have been honoured to receive this … She was such a big fan of all of you. I have been reflecting on the time I was fortunate to work with her. Something I’ve been marvelling at was her ability to be generous and kind and gracious while never minimising her own talents.

“She knew she could destroy and she wanted to destroy every day on set,” Rogen continued. “Every evening before shooting-day on the show [The Studio], she’d email me and Evan [Goldberg and] said, ‘hello, I hope you’ll consider the following’, and then send a completely re-written scene. One hundred per cent of the time it made her character better and the scene better and the entire show better as a whole. She showed you can be a genius and be kind … We’re so lucky to live in a world where she so generously shared her talents with us.”

Altogether, there were few surprises in the television categories, with both The Pitt and The Studio dominating in their respective categories, as they did at all previous major award shows that honour content on the small screen. Noah Wyle won the prize for best actor in a drama series for medical drama The Pitt, choosing the moment to honour the actors’ union and his SAG-AFTRA card, which he has held close for 36 years. The Pitt also took home the prize for best ensemble in a drama series.

“I’ve never been more proud of a group of people in my life,” Wyle said of his cast on The Pitt. “This is the hardest working group of people ... It’s been challenging and difficult and rewarding in ways I can’t possibly fathom. I wouldn’t change one thing … We’re so grateful. To the fellow nominees, the work is so exceptional that this is really humbling and very exciting.”

And Rogen returned to the stage again after winning best ensemble cast in a comedy series for The Studio, a knee-slapping satirical take on the current Hollywood studio system. That wraps the comedy show’s winning sweep throughout the 2026 awards season.

Owen Cooper also completed his insanely strong awards run, picking up the trophy for best actor in a limited series, though he was not in attendance to accept the prize. His performance as a teenager accused of murder in Adolescence was magnificent, so it’s little wonder he was recognised across every major award show that celebrates television.

The Actor Awards was rebranded from the SAG Awards to make it clear what it actually celebrates – the stars of film and television. It has the largest voting body in the awards circuit, with around 160,000 members across SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild — American Federation of Radio and Television Artists) voting for each other. It usually offers solid clues around who could come out successful at the Oscars in a few weeks’ time, especially in the performance categories.

The ceremony, which is taking place in Los Angeles and broadcast live on Netflix, is led by Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars, Nobody Wants This), who hosted the previous two Actor Awards. Her opening number was a crowd-pleaser, riffing on stage names through an old Hollywood musical number. This was in line with what she promised early on in her monologue: levity amid trying times.

Ahead of the ceremony, Paul Thomas Anderson’s political comedy-thriller One Battle After Another was the title to beat, having scored a record-breaking seven nominations. Ryan Coogler’s gothic vampire horror Sinners was not far behind, having received five nods.

Before the official broadcast began, Bridgerton star and Sydneysider Yerin Ha also announced the best stunt ensemble in both film and television. The former went to Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning and the latter went to The Last Of Us.

Here is a full list of winners and nominees at the 2026 Actor Awards:

Film Nominations

Outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role
Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Kate Hudson, Song Sung Blue
Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another
Emma Stone, Bugonia

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role
Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon
Michael B. Jordan, Sinners
Jesse Plemons, Bugonia

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role
Odessa A’zion, Marty Supreme
Ariana Grande, Wicked: For Good
Amy Madigan, Weapons
Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners
Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role
Miles Caton, Sinners
Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein
Paul Mescal, Hamnet
Sean Penn, One Battle After Another

Stunt ensemble in a motion picture
F1
Frankenstein
WINNER: Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
One Battle After Another
Sinners

Series Nominations

Outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series
The Diplomat
Landman
WINNER: The Pitt
Severance
The White Lotus

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a drama series
Britt Lower, Severance
Parker Posey, The White Lotus
WINNER: Keri Russell, The Diplomat
Rhea Seehorn, Pluribus
Aimee Lou Wood, The White Lotus

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama series
Sterling K. Brown, Paradise
Billy Crudup, The Morning Show
Walton Goggins, The White Lotus
Gary Oldman, Slow Horses
WINNER: Noah Wyle, The Pitt

Outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series
Abbott Elementary
The Bear
Hacks
Only Murders in the Building
WINNER: The Studio

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a comedy series
Kathryn Hahn, The Studio
WINNER: Catherine O’Hara, The Studio
Jenna Ortega, Wednesday
Jean Smart, Hacks
Kristen Wiig, Palm Royale

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a comedy series
Ike Barinholtz, The Studio
Adam Brody, Nobody Wants This
Ted Danson, A Man on the Inside
WINNER: Seth Rogen, The Studio
Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a television movie or limited series
Claire Danes, The Beast in Me
Erin Doherty, Adolescence
Sarah Snook, All Her Fault
Christine Tremarco, Adolescence
WINNER: Michelle Williams, Dying for Sex

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a television movie or limited series
Jason Bateman, Black Rabbit
WINNER: Owen Cooper, Adolescence
Stephen Graham, Adolescence
Charlie Hunnam, Monster: The Ed Gein Story
Matthew Rhys, The Beast in Me

Outstanding performance by a stunt ensemble in a television series
Andor
Landman
WINNER: The Last of Us
Squid Game
Stranger Things

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