Today, the Screen Actors Guild Awards is one of the most coveted and celebrated awards in the awards show season. After all, while the winners might not differentiate much between the SAG Awards to the Golden Globes, for example, the SAG Awards give actors a moment to celebrate and really highlight each other’s work.
But, while that may all the true, the SAG Awards, which began back in 1995, wasn’t always such a grand occasion. In a recent story from Jodie Foster, the actress remembered her very first SAG win, and how she didn’t even know she was nominated until the show was over.
“I first heard about my win the next morning,” the Nyad star said in Netflix’s recent Tudum event, per People.
“I’d never heard of the nomination,” remembered the actress, who won the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for her work in Nell. When she heard of the nomination, and her history-making win, Foster said it was “kind of a shock, as if someone had made a mistake.”
If you’re wondering why she thought that, Kathy Connell, a SAG Awards Committee founding member and former executive producer, explained that the awards show wasn’t a big deal in the beginning, and took a few years to gain its notoriety. “People would say, ‘SAG awards, what SAG awards?’ It was so nerve-racking because we were throwing one of the biggest parties in Hollywood and we didn’t know if anybody would come,” Connell remembered.
For Foster, however, it seems like her win, despite her absence at the event, meant a lot.
Since then, while Foster has won multiple awards, including two Academy Awards, she’s only landed her second SAG Award nomination this year. For Nyad, she’s nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role. Luckily, whether she wins or loses this year, she’ll undoubtedly be in attendance.
Competing against Foster in this year’s awards, which will stream on Netflix on Saturday night, are Emily Blunt for Oppenheimer, Danielle Brooks for The Color Purple, Penélope Cruz for Ferrari and Da’Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers. May the best actress win!
Before you go, click here to see the biggest snubs and surprises of the 2024 Oscars.
