The award season can be quite confusing sometimes, making your head spin around the deluge of events celebrating the greatest films of the year and their crew. It is really hard to keep up with all the award shows that keep coming one after the other, leaving little to no room to take a breather. This may cause some people to get two or more ceremonies mixed up due to the simple fact that there are too many of them.     

A similar thing has been happening now, where many people have been going around the internet and asking whether the Actor Awards are the same as the Oscars.

The Actor Awards ceremony that took place last night at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall was presented by SAG-AFTRA, and it is not the same as the Oscars. The event was previously called the SAG Awards, which might have led to the confusion, but it is definitely not the same as the Oscars, and there are several reasons for this. 

For starters, the show honors only actors from film and television. The whole theme behind the ceremony is actors honoring actors. Awards are given for just 16 categories, including the Lifetime Achievement Award. Nominees and winners are selected by qualified performers within SAG-AFTRA's vibrant and diverse community of more than 160,000 members, the largest voting body in the awards landscape. 

The Oscars, on the other hand, honors several aspects of a movie, be it technical or creative. This pushes the total competitive categories to upto 24, which far exceeds the Actor Awards. The winners at the Oscars are decided by a preferential voting system involving just a little over 10,000 members who are the most successful actors and executives in the film industry. It is the pinnacle of prestige in the entertainment industry, and there is no question about it.  

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Nevertheless, the Oscars 2026 are yet to come, and some people might be thinking that the Actor Awards winners might have an edge for the golden statue.

Last night was a big night for Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, as it took away the prizes for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role. Michael B Jordan’s case for the Oscars 2026 has taken a significant jump with this win.

Other winners included Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role and Sean Penn (One Battle After Another) for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role. 

The Actor Awards might not be an indicator of the Oscars trend, but they do give an idea about the direction of the wind in this intense race. After the ceremony last night, the odds have dramatically shifted for many categories, and the award season, which seemed to be heavily dominated by Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, has a ray of light for Sinners now, too.  

The mystery behind the Oscar 2026 winner still continues with a few days remaining until the big reveal. The wait itself is heavy to bear now, making fans restless with each passing minute. At the end of the day, the decision rests upon the shoulders of qualified industry experts who know cinema a lot better than others.

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Were you confused between the Actor Awards and Oscars, too? What do you think about the ultimate outcome of the Oscars 2026? Do let us know in the comments.