Austin Butler (‘Elvis’) would be youngest Best Actor SAG Award winner
Austin Butler’s on-screen acting career began 16 years ago, but, in many ways, he’s still just getting started. His breakout role as Elvis Presley in 2022’s “Elvis” has earned him some of his best notices yet, and he may now be on the precipice of a string of industry awards season wins. the movie. This could include a Best Actor win at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which would be historic in that he would be the youngest person to ever receive the award.
At 31, Butler is the youngest of the Gold Derby’s five SAG Award nominees for Best Actor in a Motion Picture by 15 years. He comes third on our list behind Brendan Fraser (54, “The Whale”) and Colin Farrell (46, “The Banshees of Inisherin”) and ahead of Bill Nighy (73, “Living”) and Tom Cruise (60, “Top Weapon: Maverick”). The strongest candidate to be younger than Butler is Jeremy Pope (30, “The Inspection”) in seventh place, while our top 20 includes five other actors ranging from 20 to at 30: Gabriel Labelle (“The Fabelmans”), Paul. Mescal (“Aftersun”), Diego Calva (“Babylon”), Timothée Chalamet (“Bones and All”) and Felix Kammerer (“All Quiet on the western front”).
By winning this SAG award, Butler would break an age record that has been held for 27 years by Nicolas Cage, who was 32 when he won for “Leaving Las Vegas” at the second annual ceremony. Also in 1996, 20-year-old champion Kate Winslet (“Sense and Sensibility”) earned the unblemished distinction of being the youngest overall SAG Award solo film winner. The remaining two individual film category titles go to Jennifer Lawrence (Actress, 22, “Silver Linings Playbook,” 2013) and Heath Ledger (Supporting Actor, 28, “The Dark Knight,” 2009).
Butler, who could lower the age record bar in his category by 220 days, would be the 14th youngest man ever to compete for the award. Jamie Bell, who was 14 when she accepted an offer for “Billy Elliot” in 2001, remains the youngest lead film contender in SAG Awards history, with Evan Rachel Wood (16, “Thirteen,” 2004) leads the list of women. The respective record holders in the supporting category are Jacob Tremblay (9, “Room,” 2016) and Dakota Fanning (7, “I Am Sam,” 2002).
Joining Bell and Butler on the list of youngest Best Picture nominees are Chalamet (22, “Call Me Your Name,” 2018), Emile Hirsch (22, “Into the Wild,” 2008), Ryan Gosling (26, “Half Nelson”, 2007; 27, “Lars and the Real Girl”, 2008), Ledger (26, “Brokeback Mountain”, 2006), Jesse Eisenberg (27, “The Social Network” , 2011), Matt Damon (27, “Good Will Hunting”, 1998), Joseph Fiennes (28, “Shakespeare in Love”, 1999), Daniel Kaluuya (28, “Get Out”, 2018), Adrien Brody (29, “The Pianist”, 2003), Taron Egerton (30, “Rocketman”, 2020), Leonardo DiCaprio (30, “The Aviator”, 2005) and Joaquin Phoenix (30, “Walk the Line”, 2006).
Nominations for the 29th SAG Awards will be announced on Wednesday, January 11, with the ceremony continuing on Sunday, February 26.
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