Hollywood’s actors rename SAG-Aftra awards after themselves

LOS ANGELES: Hollywood’s actors have decided their awards show needed a rebrand. Starting with the 32nd ceremony on 1 March 2026, the Screen Actors Guild Awards will become The Actor Awards presented by SAG-Aftra. The change, announced last Friday, swaps decades of branding for a name inspired by the ceremony’s trophy—a statuette called The Actor.

The logic is straightforward. For over 30 years, presenters have declared “and The Actor goes to…” when announcing winners. The union reckons it’s time the show’s name matched the ritual. SAG-Aftra president and recipient of the statuette in 2004 Sean Astin says the trophy “represents all of us” and embodies “the dignity, poise and skill that define our craft.”

The rebranding aims to clarify what sets this awards night apart: actors voting for actors. Unlike the Oscars or Golden Globes, where journalists, industry veterans or academy members cast ballots, SAG-Aftra’s 160,000-odd members are the sole judges. National executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland insists the categories and voting process remain untouched. Only the masthead changes.

The union also wants the full SAG-Aftra name front and centre. As a merged organisation—the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists combined in 2012—leaders believe the expanded title better represents their sprawling membership. Netflix will continue streaming the ceremony live, with executives hopeful that international viewers will grasp what makes the show distinct.

Whether audiences will embrace calling it “The Actor Awards” remains unclear. But for an industry that spends half its time obsessing over identity and the other half handing itself trophies, the name fits like a bespoke tuxedo. 

Actors honouring actors with an award called The Actor?

 You couldn’t write it. 

Actually, they just did.