Every year, there are always a few names who are in line for some awards glory after years of being the bridesmaids. Some of those names still haven’t had their moment, such as Glenn Close at the Oscars. But, this year, the Screen Actors’ Guild Awards could finally dish out some of those moments to some key names. We’re going to take a look at some of those names in just a tick but, first, a ground rule: we are only looking at people who have never won any type of SAG award, be that an individual gong or a Best Ensemble prize. There are some names this year who have won the latter but not the former, such as Bradley Cooper and Mark Ruffalo. We won’t be looking at those guys. Instead, we are looking at the pure SAG-free thespians. Here they are.
Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”) — Best Actress
While Cooper has won a Best Ensemble award (for “American Hustle” in 2014), his leading lady in this film, Carey Mulligan, has not. Mulligan has earned four SAG nominations across her career so far, but zero wins. The first two bids came in 2010 when she was nominated for Best Actress and Best Ensemble for her breakout role in “An Education.” She then picked up a second Best Ensemble nomination in 2018 for “Mudbound” before securing a follow-up Best Actress bid in 2021 for “Promising Young Woman.” We are predicting that she will earn a nomination for Best Actress this year for “Maestro,” which charts the marriage between Leonard Bernstein (Cooper) and Felicia Montealegre (Mulligan). Mulligan is predicted to be nominated alongside Emma Stone (“Poor Things”), Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Margot Robbie (“Barbie”), and Annette Bening (“Nyad”). She has some tough competition in Stone and Gladstone, who both won Golden Globes over the weekend. However, those two are neck and neck. Perhaps Mulligan, who delivers a powerhouse performance, could split the vote and sneak a win?
Margot Robbie (“Barbie”) — Best Actress
Hoping to utilize the same strategy is Robbie, who is also predicted to earn a Best Actress nomination for her role in Warner Bros’ “Barbie.” That movie follows Robbie as the titular Barbie, who swaps Barbie Land for the real world after suffering an existential crisis. Robbie is also predicted to land a Best Ensemble nomination for “Barbie,” which we think will be nominated for the SAG top prize alongside “Oppenheimer,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Poor Things,” and “The Color Purple.” Could “Barbie” sneak a win there? We’ll see. Robbie was previously nominated for Best Ensemble three times — in 2023 for “Babylon” and twice in 2020 for “Bombshell” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” She also secured two Best Supporting Actress bids — for Babylon in 2023 and “Mary Queen of Scots” in 2019. Plus, she was nominated for Best Actress in 2020 for “I, Tonya.” That’s six nominations and zero wins… so far.
Ryan Gosling (“Barbie”) — Best Supporting Actor
Next up is Robbie’s “Barbie” co-star Ryan Gosling, who plays Ken in the hit movie. Gosling is predicted to earn a Best Supporting Actor nomination alongside Robert Downey Jr. (“Oppenheimer”), Mark Ruffalo (“Poor Things”), Robert De Niro (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), and Charles Melton (“May December”). Gosling has a difficult task in trying to unplace Downey Jr. from top spit after the former MCU actor triumphed at the Golden Globes on the weekend, but “Barbie” and Gosling’s Ken have proven to be so popular that it could well happen. He’s in second spot, just behind Downey Jr, for a reason. Gosling has four prior SAG nominations to his name, including three Best Actor bids. They came in 2007 for “Half Nelson,” in 2008 for “Lars and the Real Girl,” and in 2017 for “La La Land.” He was also nominated for Best Ensemble in 2016 for “The Big Short.” Again, we think Gosling will also be nominated for Best Ensemble for “Barbie.”
Bill Hader (“Barry”) — Best Comedy TV Actor
HBO’s “Barry” came to a close last year with a fourth and final season. The dark comedy follows Bill Hader, who also created, wrote, and directed the show, as a hit-man who moves from the Midwest to Los Angeles and winds up involved in LA’s theatre arts scene. Hader has earned the same duo of nominations (Best Comedy TV Actor and Best Comedy Ensemble) three separate times for this show — in 2019, 2020, and 2023. That’s six nominations and zero losses. Hader is expected to earn just one nomination this year. That’s for Best Comedy TV Actor alongside Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear”), Jason Sudeikis (“Ted Lasso”), Martin Short (“Only Murders in the Building”), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (“The Bear”). Hader’s hope here is that SAG voters decide to take this final chance to reward a show they clearly admire. It could happen and would be something of a cumulative win for the entire show, but Allen White seems to be the man of the moment, particularly after his Golden Globes win over Hader on Sunday.
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