The 2026 Actor Awards were not only filled with plenty of comedic comments but also several heartfelt ones. From Sinners star Delroy Lindo‘s emotional acceptance speech and Weapons actress Amy Madigan‘s joke about the trophy’s genitalia to Michael B. Jordan fulfilling his lifelong dream with his first win and Seth Rogen recalling sweet memories of the late Catherine O’Hara on the set of The Studio, here are some of the most memorable moments from Sunday night’s awards ceremony honoring actors.
Michael B. Jordan’s First Win for ‘Sinners’ Fulfills Lifelong Dream
Michael B. Jordan won the Actor Award for best actor for his role in Sinners. Jordan, who stars as twins in Ryan Coogler’s Warner Bros. film, hugged his mother and took to the stage to accept the award. “I wasn’t expecting that. I’m so honored and privileged to be nominated in categories with people and actors and humans that I love, and I love their work and what they contribute to our craft and just rise to has been unbelievable,” he said. So, thank you for welcoming me in and making me feel seen.” The 39-year-old continued to address the crowd, saying, “I remember watching all the other actors that I looked up to being a part of that club community, and I was like, Man, I want to do that one day. So I remember when I got my SAG-AFTRA card, I was like, ‘Man, I’m like an entry level member and those guys that were on stage with the awards and the nice places like that, that’s what I always wanted. And that kid from North New Jersey is standing here right now. Mom, thank you for driving me back and forth to New York, when we didn’t have enough money to go through the Holland Tunnel.” Read more. — Lexi Carson
Seth Rogen Reflects on Working With the Late Catherine O’Hara After Accepting Award on Her Behalf
After the 2026 Actor Awards named Catherine O’Hara as best actress in a comedy series for her role in The Studio, show co-creator, Seth Rogen, took to the stage to accept on her behalf. “I was asked to assume the honor of accepting this award on O’Hara’s behalf. I know she would have been honored to receive this award from her fellow performers who I know she respected so much. She was such a big fan of all of yours,” Rogen said to the crowd. Rogen noted that he’s been reflecting on his time working with her, since she died several weeks ago. “Something that I’ve just been marveling at over the last few weeks was really her ability to be generous and kind and gracious while never ever minimizing her own talents and her own ability to contribute to the work that we were doing,” he said. “She knew she could destroy, and she wanted to destroy every day on set.” Read more. — Lexi Carson
Kristen Bell Teases Nominees With New Stage Name Suggestions
It’s no secret Kristen Bell loves a musical number and jumped at the opportunity to break out in song during her monologue as host of the ceremony. The Nobody Wants This star kicked off the show with some, let’s say, creative stage name suggestions for some of the night’s nominees. “As you know, this year, the show got a little bit of a facelift. Like many people in this room can understand, we nipped the ‘sag,’ and now it’s just the Actor Awards. But thinking about it got me thinking about rebranding, because at one time or another, everyone has thought about…” Bell began before singing, “A stage name up on the marquees that rolls off the tongue with melodious ease.” Read more. — Carly Thomas
Teyana Taylor Vowed She Wouldn’t Let Leonardo DiCaprio Drown During “I Am an Actor” Segment
Teyana Taylor finally got to live out the dream of her 10-year-old Titanic-loving self when she co-starred with Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another, the actress revealed at the top of the 2026 Actor Awards in the show’s signature “I am an actor” segment. Watching the film, Taylor said she saw, “Rose let Jack sink to the bottom, because we know good and well he could have fit his ass on that goddamn door.” She added, “I made a promise that if I ever got the chance to work with Leonardo DiCaprio, that I wouldn’t let him drown,” Instead, she said, referring to her One Battle character, revolutionary Perfidia Beverly Hills, “I’d run off, rob a bank and left him with a whole damn baby.” Read more. — Hilary Lewis
Amy Madigan Jokingly Compares Actor Awards Trophy to Ken Doll
Amy Madigan won the trophy for best female actor in a supporting role. Madigan, 75, who portrays Aunt Gladys in Zach Cregger’s original horror film Weapons, took to the stage to accept the award. “It’s such an honor to be here. I’ve been doing this a long ass time, and I have never been nominated by the SAG committee and by the [Screen Actors] Guild,” she said. “I’m a proud member, and I keep getting asked tonight, ‘What is it about this night?’ I said, ‘Because actors love other actors. They just love being with them. We want to be working with them.’” She continued, “I’m a union person. I come from Chicago. Everybody in my family, all my friends, relatives, we’re all union people, and I don’t care what somebody says, they’re not going to bust us.” Read more. — Lexi Carson
Delroy Lindo Get Emotional During Speech After Sinners‘ Takes Hope Top Prize
Sinners is officially on the board. The most-nominated movie at this year’s Oscars — and, for that matter, in the history of the Oscars — has won at the 2026 Actor Awards for best ensemble, a crucial precursor in the Oscars’ best-picture race. It’s also Sinners’ first top win at one of the major Oscar precursor awards so far this season, with One Battle After Another having effectively run the table to this point — including at last night’s Producers Guild Awards. Now we’ve got a race. Sinners was favored by many to win here, given its strength with casting/ensemble precursor awards, but SAG-AFTRA tends to bestow its top prize to an overall industry favorite — whether clear Oscar front-runners like Oppenheimer and Everything Everywhere All at Once or underdogs like Parasite and CODA. Of course, all of those movies went on to win the top Oscar, a trajectory that Sinners will hope to emulate. Read more. — David Canfield
The 32nd annual Actor Awards, hosted by Bell, streamed live on Netflix on Sunday from the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall in Los Angeles. Find all the winners here, and check out the red carpet looks.
