Film awards: Conclave, The Substance & Shogun collect top honours at the 2025 Screen Actors Guild Awards

A celebratory Sunday night commended exceptional performances in film and television of the year prior, which saw Conclave, The Substance, and Shogun collect top honours at the 31st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.

The overall successful evening saw much critical acclaim among the deserving nominees and winners, with Conclave and The Substance taking home two big-time awards each, whilst Shogun racked up a collection of four in total. 

Film News Blitz’s Aidan Leo reflects on and outlines this year’s SAG Award winners. 

Conclave and The Substance take home the prominent spoils

Conclave, continuing on from its BAFTAs success, deservingly gained recognition for the film’s all-around exceptional performances, winning Cast in a Motion Picture. 

Demi Moore made her return to the frontlines and the headlines for her exemplary performance in The Substance, victorious for best Female Actor in a Leading Role. 

She was previously bested by Mikey Madison (Anora) at the BAFTAs for the award. 

Shogun is reaching even higher heights

Many viewers and film enthusiasts, including myself, have concluded that whenever Shogun wins, Shogun wins big.

The extraordinary Japanese war epic had previously swept the Critics Choice Awards for the acting in a drama series categories (aside from Kathy Bates for Matlock). 

The majestic series continued its run at the SAG Awards, with wins for Ensemble in a Drama Series, Female Actor in a Drama Series and Male Actor in a Drama Series for the wonderful and remarkably good Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada respectively.

Additionally, the series’ stunt crew were also given recognition for their faultless efforts, taking home the prize for Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series.

A completely known love for Timothee

With award season for 2025 totally stacked with top-tier performances and deserving winners, the always exceptional Timothee Chalamet remains a worthy recipient of top honours at any time, but has fallen short this year up until this point.

This time around he was not looking on in wonder and appreciation, but rather his contemporaries sat by and witnessed his award win for his stellar role as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, winning the Male Actor in a Leading Role award.

What can we glean from this year’s SAG Award winners?

With Conclave now increasingly filling its award cabinet, it raises questions as to whether the film’s competitors will be able to halt their surge going into the Oscars.

The ensemble cast award is often a key pointer towards Oscars Best Picture success and the BAFTA win a week earlier in that category means Conclave has some serious momentum.

But Conclave faces stiff competition from Anora, which has taken top honours at the Critics Choice Awards and major prizes from the Directors, Producers and Writers guilds.

After Mikey Madison’s against-the-odds victory at the BAFTAs, Moore has taken back the reins as she has done all year long, which could lead to a prominent and worthy Oscars victory for her and The Substance.

READ MORE: Film awards: Conclave and The Brutalist share the spoils at the 2025 BAFTAs

But what Chalamet’s massive achievement means for his and A Complete Unknown’s Oscars run is yet to be determined.

However, as Billboard reported, “Individual SAG Award winners for film acting generally go on to win Oscars. 

“Three years ago, and again two years ago, all four SAG winners repeated at the Oscars. But last year, one of the four stumbled: Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon) won the SAG Award, but went on to lose the Oscar for best actress to Emma Stone (Poor Things).”

It will be very interesting to see whether that trend will continue this year. 

We all ponder in eager anticipation now.  


For the full list of the 2025 SAG Award winners, refer to the list below.


FILM

Casting in a Motion Picture

Conclave

A Complete Unknown

Anora

Emilia Perez

Wicked 


Female Actor in a Leading Role

Demi Moore - The Substance

Cynthia Erivo - Wicked 

Karla Sofia Gascon - Emilia Perez

Mikey Madison - Anora

Pamela Anderson - The Last Showgirl


Male Actor in a Leading Role 

Timothee Chalamet - A Complete Unknown 

Adrien Brody - The Brutalist 

Colman Domingo - Sing Sing

Daniel Craig - Queer

Ralph Fiennes - Conclave 


Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Zoe Saldana - Emilia Perez

Ariana Grande - Wicked 

Danielle Deadwyler - The Piano Lesson 

Jamie Lee Curtis - The Last Showgirl

Monica Barbaro - A Complete Unknown


Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Kieran Culkin - A Real Pain

Edward Norton - A Complete Unknown

Jeremy Strong - The Apprentice 

Jonathan Bailey - Wicked

Yura Borisov - Anora


TV

Ensemble in a Drama Series 

Shogun

Bridgerton

Slow Horses

The Day of the Jackal

The Diplomat 


Female Actor in a Drama Series

Anna Sawai - Shogun

Allison Janney - The Diplomat

Kathy Bates - Matlock 

Keri Russell - The Diplomat

Nicola Coughlan - Bridgerton


Male Actor in a Drama Series

Hiroyuki Sanada - Shogun

Eddie Redmayne - The Day of the Jackal 

Gary Oldman - Slow Horses

Jeff Bridges - The Old Man 

Tadanobu Asano - Shogun 


Ensemble in a Comedy Series

Only Murders in the Building

Abbott Elementary 

Hacks

Shrinking

The Bear 


Female Actor in a Comedy Series 

Jean Smart - Hacks

Ayo Edebiri - The Bear

Kristen Bell - Nobody Wants This

Liza Colon-Zayas - The Bear

Quinta Brunson - Abbott Elementary


Male Actor in a Comedy Series 

Martin Short - Only Murders in the Building

Adam Brody - Nobody Wants This 

Harrison Ford - Shrinking 

Jeremy Allen White - The Bear 

Ted Danson - A Man on the Inside 


Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series

Jessica Gunning - Baby Reindeer 

Cate Blanchett - Disclaimer 

Cristin Milioti - The Penguin 

Jodie Foster - True Detective: Night Country

Kathy Bates - The Great Lillian Hall

Lily Gladstone - Under the Bridge


Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series

Colin Farrell - The Penguin

Andrew Scott - Ripley 

Javier Bardem - Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story 

Kevin Kline - Disclaimer

Richard Gadd - Baby Reindeer


STUNTS

Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture 

The Fall Guy

Deadpool and Wolverine

Dune: Part Two

Gladiator II

Wicked 


Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series

Shogun

Fallout

House of the Dragon

The Boys 

The Penguin 

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Aidan Leo

Aidan Leo is a passionate, expressive and bold writer who although makes use of unnecessarily extensive vocabulary at times, he more than makes up for it with his enthusiasm and love for cinema. 

Whether it be the intensity and social commentary of classics like A Few Good Men and Fight Club, or the joyous and slightly controversial hilarity of Step Brothers and The Heat, he loves them all. 

His other passions include sports, photography/videography, food, fashion, music, and anime.

As Matthew McConaughey’s David says in Dazed and Confused, “The older you do get, the more rules they’re gonna try to get you to follow. You just gotta keep livin’ man. L-I-V-I-N.” A quote Aidan prides himself on and one he looks to, to continue following his dreams and passions. 

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