Uzo Aduba, other First Timers Sweep the SAG Awards

SAG-AFTRA today presented its coveted Actor® statuettes for the outstanding motion picture and primetime television performances of 2014. The annual ceremony which was held at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center honored first time nominees Uzo Aduba, Eddie Redmayne with individual awards. A shocked and surprised Aduba took home the first award of the evening for leading female actor in a comedy category for the comedy-drama “Orange is the New Black,” which is set in a women’s prison. The series also earned another award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series. “My heart literally stopped beating when I heard my name called,” Aduba told Trendy’s Samantha Ofole-Prince backstage. “It was an incredibly humbling experience.”

Jessica Pimentel, Danielle Brooks, Lorraine Toussaint &   Adrienne C. Moore

Jessica Pimentel, Danielle Brooks, Lorraine Toussaint & Adrienne C. Moore

Viola-Davis

Viola Davis

Viola Davis won best female actor in a drama series for “How to Get Away With Murder” and graciously thanked the show’s creator and producer for thinking a “sexualised, messy, mysterious woman could be a 49-year-old, dark-skinned, African-American woman who looks like me.” This is Davis’ second Screen Actors Guild award. She previously received an award at the 18th annual Screen Actors Guild for the movie “The Help.” The award for a motion picture cast performance went to “Birdman”, while Patricia Arquette, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy and J.K. Simmons won statuettes for performances in motion pictures.

Two time SAG winner Uzo Aduba

Two time SAG winner Uzo Aduba

Eddie Redmayne

Eddie Redmayne

Julia Roberts

Julia Roberts

Lenny

Lenny

Lupita_02

Lupita Nyong’o

Carrie Fisher presented her mother Debbie Reynolds with the union’s highest honor, the 51st Annual Life Achievement Award.  There was also an “In Memoriam” tribute to the members lost in the past year from Ruby Dee to Robin Williams during the two-hour live telecast. Presenters at this annual event included Julia Roberts, Liev Schreiber, Lenny Kravitz, Colin Farrell, Jeff Goldblum, Jared Leto, Lupita Nyong’o and Reese Witherspoon.

Samantha Ofole-Prince is an entertainment industry specialist and contributes to Trendy Africa Magazine from Los Angeles. Photos by Royalty Image

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