The Help Is The Big Winner At The SAG Awards

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Octavia Spencer in The Help
(Image credit: Walt Disney Studios)

The 2011 awards season is almost at an end. The Academy Awards are now less than a month away, set to air on February 26th, but there are still more guild awards that need to happen before then. Tonight, for example, was the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, which delivers awards to films based on their individual performances as well as their ensemble casts. Now the show has come to a close and the awards have been handed out. And the big winner is...

The Help. Though there are only five movie categories (the show also covers outstanding work in television), the Tate Taylor-directed film took home a grand total of three awards. While many anticipated wins in Best Ensemble and Best Supporting Actress, the big surprise of the evening was Viola Davis's turn beating out Meryl Streep's performance in The Iron Lady. The full list of nominees and winners is below, with the winners marked in bold.

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

The Artist

Bridesmaids

The Descendants

The Help

Midnight in Paris

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Demian Bichir – A Better Life

George Clooney – The Descendants

Leonardo DiCaprio – J. Edgar

Jean Dujardin – The Artist

Brad Pitt – Moneyball

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis – The Help

Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady

Tilda Swinton – We Need To Talk About Kevin

Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Kenneth Branagh – My Week With Marilyn

Armie Hammer – J. Edgar

Jonah Hill – Moneyball

Nick Nolte – Warrior

Christopher Plummer – Beginners

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Berenice Bejo – The Artist

Jessica Chastain – The Help

Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer – The Help

Our very own Katey Rich will be around tomorrow morning for her analysis of these winners and losers and how they will change the awards race. To read more about it, check out other issues of her Oscar Eye column.

Eric Eisenberg
Eric Eisenberg
Assistant Managing Editor

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.