Catherine O’Hara won the outstanding female actress in a comedy series award at the 2026 SAG Actor Awards Sunday, one month after her heartbreaking death.
O’Hara became the first woman in history to win a posthumous SAG Actor Award.
She won for her role as Janet Leigh in Apple TV’s “The Studio.” The show’s creator, Seth Rogen, accepted the reward on her behalf onstage.
Rogen gave an emotional speech, in which he noted that she would have been honored to receive the award from her fellow performers.
He also remembered that she was “generous, kind and ferocious while never minimizing her own talents.”
“She knew she could destroy and she wanted to destroy every day on set,” he recalled.
“She really showed you can be a genius and kind and one doesn’t have to come at the expense of the other way in any shape or form,” he said as the audience clapped.
He encouraged people to view O’Hara’s legendary on-screen performances, sharing, “we’re lucky to live in a world where she shared her talent with us.”
The tribute had actors in the audience emotional, including O’Hara’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” co-star Jenny Ortega, who was filmed wiping away tears.
The two-time Emmy winner faced off in the category against Jean Smart (“Hacks”), Ortega (“Wednesday”), Kristen Wiig (“Palm Royale”), and Kathryn Hahn (“The Studio”).
She’s also nominated for a second trophy as an ensemble member in “The Studio,” alongside Seth Rogen, Hahn, Ike Barinholtz, and Chase Sui Wonders.
O’Hara died on Jan. 30 at age 71.
According to a statement to Page Six from Creative Artists Agency (the agency O’Hara was signed to), she passed in her Los Angeles home “following a brief illness.”
As Page Six exclusively reported at the time, the “Schitt’s Creek” star had been rushed to the hospital early that morning in “serious” condition after she reported to first responders she was having “breathing difficulty.”
On Feb. 9, the actress’ cause of death was revealed to be a pulmonary embolism.
However, the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health noted rectal cancer as the underlying issue that resulted in her death.
Per TMZ, O’Hara’s body was cremated in accordance with her final wishes.
On Saturday, Feb. 14, she was laid to rest in a private memorial ceremony held at St. Martin of Tours Church in Los Angeles.
In a post from Kelly Lynch honoring O’Hara’s life, fans of the late star were given a close look at her funeral service booklet
“Rest in peace darling Catherine,” Lynch, 67, wrote on Instagram alongside a picture of the booklet.
“And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so? I did,” Lynch wrote, quoting writer Raymond Carver. “And what did you want? To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth.”
