Catherine O’Hara wins posthumous award at the Actor Awards

A month after her unexpected death, Catherine O’Hara won a posthumous award at the 32nd Actor Awards for her performance on “The Studio.”

O’Hara won best female actor in a comedy series Sunday at the Actor Awards, formerly known as the Screen Actors Guild Awards. O’Hara died at the age of 71 on Jan. 30 from a blood clot in the lungs. At the Shine Auditorium in Los Angeles, the crowd stood in a standing ovation for O’Hara after she was announced as the winner.

Seth Rogen, co-creator of “The Studio,” accepted the award on her behalf. He recalled a passionate collaborator who would, the night before a scene, invariably send a polite email with suggested rewrites. Rogen said O’Hara “showed that you could be a genius and you could be kind.”

“If you have people in your lives who don’t know her work,” Rogen said, “show them O’Hara dancing to Harry Belafonte in ‘Beetlejuice,’ show them O’Hara hurting her knee in ‘Best in Show’ and doing that amazing thing where she hobbles around, and tell the people as they are laughing that that’s Catherine O’Hara and we were lucky that we got to live in a world where she so generously shared her talents with us.”

With two weeks to go until the Academy Awards, the 32nd Actor Awards on Sunday are the final pre-Oscars showdown for “One Battle After Another” and “Sinners.”

The Actor Awards are one of the most closely watched Oscar precursors. Actors make up the largest slice of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the guild’s choices often align.

The ceremony, presented by the actors guild SAG-AFTRA, are streaming live on Netflix. Kristen Bell, returning as host, kicked off the show on a light, song-and-dance note despite the war in Iran and entertainment industry upheaval.

The Actor Awards were the biggest Hollywood bash since Paramount reached an agreement to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery for $111 billion. The merger, which awaits regulatory approval, sent shockwaves through Hollywood. Netflix chief executive Ted Sarandos, whose company lost out to Paramount competing bid, walked the red carpet in jeans.

Before the ceremony began, the award for best stunt ensemble went to a Paramount release: “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.” Among the other TV winners were Keri Russell (“The Diplomat”), Michelle Williams (“Dying for Sex”) and Rogen (“The Studio”).

Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” comes in the heavy favorite, having won at the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs and at Saturday’s Producers Guild Awards. The film comes in with a record seven nominations and is seen as the most likely winner of the night’s top award, best ensemble.

The four other nominees for best ensemble are: “Sinners,” “Hamnet,” “Marty Supreme” and “Frankenstein.” If Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” upsets “One Battle After Another” on Sunday night, it would add a late dose of unpredictability to Oscars.

But many of the categories feel up for grabs.

Timothée Chalamet, who last year won best male actor from the actors guild for “A Complete Unknown,” had been seen as the favorite for his performance in “Marty Supreme.” But the surprise winner at the BAFTAs, Robert Aramayo, showed how hard to pin down the category is. The other nominees are: Michael B. Jordan (“Sinners”), Leonardo DiCaprio (“One Battle After Another”), Ethan Hawke (“Blue Moon”) and Jesse Plemons (“Bugonia”).

If Chalamet wins, he’d be the first to win the award in back to back years.