SAG Awards change name to the Actor Awards starting in 2026

The Actor statue on display at the 30th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Feb. 24, 2024, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Screen Actors Guild Awards are now called the Actor Awards.

The show commonly known as the SAG Awards will officially become the Actor Awards presented by SAG-AFTRA in its next incarnation on March 1, when Netflix will stream the ceremony as it has since 2023.

The move was announced Friday to the board of SAG-AFTRA, the union that presents the awards and represents U.S. film and television actors among others.

The SAG Awards began in 1995 to annually recognize performances in movies and primetime TV. They have become an increasingly prominent part of Hollywood’s awards season, in part because all of its nominees and winners tend to be famous faces. It generally comes just before the Academy Awards and is considered a key Oscar bellwether.

SAG-AFTRA explained the change on its website:

“Since the show started over 30 years ago, our iconic statuette has always been called The Actor, and simply evolving the show’s name to align with the award itself made obvious sense. We wanted to provide clearer recognition in terms of what the show is about for our domestic and global audiences — we honor actors in film and television.”

The organization said the change has been discussed for some time, but didn’t get more specific.

The Associated Press