As the row over the lack of diversity in the Oscar nominations rumbles on, black actors took top honours at the 22nd Screen Actors Guild Awards on Saturday night.
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Queen Latifah, who portrayed the life of 1920s blues singer Bessie Smith on HBO’s Bessie, won Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries.
DiCaprio has already won a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice Award for his portrayal of an early 19th century frontiersman trying to survive against the odds after being left for dead in the wilderness by his traveling companions.
Lead actress went to Brie Larson (Room), who looks bound for an Oscar too, as the SAG lead actress victor has matched with the Oscars 15 of 21 times.
“The Danish Girl” star Alicia Vikander bagged outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role.
The awards were in stark contrast to the Oscars, where no minority actors are nominated this year for the industry’s highest honours.
The black, British actor won Best Supporting Actor for playing a mercenary commander in Netflix’s West African war drama ‘Beasts of No Nation, ‘ and best actor in a limited series for BBC’s crime drama “Luther“.
He beat out Christian Bale, Mark Rylance, Michael Shannon and Jacob Tremblay; of the actors on the list, Tremblay ad Shannon were among the actors not nominated for the Oscar alongside Elba.
Discussing backstage how cinema can match the diversity seen on television, she said: “The public has to continue to demand that, we are in a capitalist society so hopefully supply and demand will kick in”.
She said stories with non-white actors are still human stories, and more people need to give them a chance.
The diverse cast of the Netflix series “Orange Is The New Black” also won big, with the award for best ensemble in a comedy series and a best actress trophy for star Aduba.
The TV categories made the #OscarsSoWhite supporters proud, while the film categories failed aside from giving a SAG to Idris Elba for his work in Beasts of No Nation. Drama actor champ Kevin Spacey (House of Cards) became the eighth person to win his category twice, while Viola Davis (How to Get Away with Murder) joins Allison Janney and Gillian Anderson as two-time drama actress winners. My job as an actor is to create a human being to the best of my ability.
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Best actor in a TV drama went to Jeffery Tambor for the acclaimed Amazon series “Transparent“.
