The winter awards season rolls on in Hollywood. This latest is the only one with actors honoring actors.
The 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, airs from 7-9 p.m. today on TNT and TBS with Lily Tomlin scheduled for the SAG Life Achievement Award. It will be presented by her 1980 9 to 5 co-stars Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton.
Carol Burnett received the award last year.
Of all the industry awards presented to actors, only the SAG Awards are selected entirely by the performers' peers in SAG-AFTRA. AFTRA stands for the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. It merged with SAG in 2012.
Two randomly selected panels of 2,500 members each choose the nominees for television and motion pictures. All active members of the organization -- more than 115,000 -- received voting information.
SAG-AFTRA membership includes actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, disc jockeys, news writers and editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voice-over artists and other professionals.
Thirteen awards will be handed out during the live broadcast. The awards focus not only on individual performances, but the entire ensemble of a TV drama and comedy, and the cast of a motion picture as well.
Among the presenters this year are Casey Affleck, Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Lucas Hedges, Taraji P. Henson, Brie Larson, Janelle Monae, Viggo Mortensen and Octavia Spencer.
Trivia: The 42-year-old Ali's birth name is Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore. Mahershalalhashbaz, meaning "He has made haste to the plunder," is from the Book of Isaiah.
Ali has the most nominations (three) for Moonlight and Hidden Figures.
The 16-inch statuette, known simply as "The Actor," is solid bronze with a green-black patina finish and mounted on a base of polished black granite. It weighs 12 pounds. Since the beginning, 952 statuettes have been awarded.
Here are the TV nominees with my picks on who is most deserving.
Male, Miniseries/TV Movie: Riz Ahmed,The Night Of; Sterling K. Brown, The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story; Bryan Cranston, All the Way; John Turturro, The Night Of; Courtney B. Vance, The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story.
My pick: Vance. His role as Johnnie Cochran was the best in a miniseries loaded with outstanding performances.
Female, Miniseries/TV Movie: Bryce Dallas Howard, Black Mirror; Felicity Huffman, American Crime; Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill; Sarah Paulson, The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story; Kerry Washington, Confirmation.
My pick: Paulson. Her depiction of Marcia Clark gave the role uncommon depth and nuance.
Male, Drama: Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us; Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones; John Lithgow, The Crown; Rami Malek, Mr. Robot; Kevin Spacey, House of Cards.
My pick: Lithgow. He showed us the very human side of an aging Winston Churchill.
Female, Drama: Millie Bobby Brown, Stranger Things; Claire Foy, The Crown; Thandie Newton, Westworld; Winona Ryder, Stranger Things; Robin Wright, House of Cards.
My pick: Brown. The 12-year-old had the role of her young life as Jane "Eleven" Ives. We'll see a great deal more of her as the years pass by.
Male, Comedy: Anthony Anderson, black-ish; Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; Ty Burrell, Modern Family; William H. Macy, Shameless; Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent.
My pick: Macy. His odious Frank Gallagher is a guy you love to hate. Or hose down.
Female, Comedy: Uzo Aduba, Orange Is the New Black; Jane Fonda, Grace and Frankie; Ellie Kemper, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep; Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie.
My pick: Louis-Dreyfus, in a category that could use some fresh blood.
Ensemble, Drama: The Crown; Downton Abbey; Game of Thrones; Stranger Things; Westworld.
My pick: Westworld. HBO's "next big thing" had its uneven moments, but it's ambitious and always leaves you wanting more.
Ensemble, Comedy: The Big Bang Theory; black-ish; Modern Family; Orange Is the New Black; Veep.
My pick: The Big Bang Theory. Remarkably, TV's No. 1 comedy is still going strong in its 10th season.
• Miss Universe, 6 p.m. today on Fox, live from the Philippines. This is the pageant where host Steve Harvey infamously announced the wrong winner. Hopefully, he gets it right this time.
Want to root for the home team? Miss USA is Deshauna Barber. The Washington native is 27 (a bit old for this sort of thing) and is the first woman actively serving in the U.S. Army Reserve to win the title.
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Style on 01/29/2017