“Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae has pulled off a huge win at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, taking down three “Succession” stars in the process. (See our TV winners live blog.) The actor took home the victory in Best TV Drama Actor over “Succession” stars Brian Cox, Kieran Culkin and Jeremy Strong, in addition to Billy Crudup from “The Morning Show.” By winning over a trio, Lee accomplished what only one actor has done before in the history of the SAG Awards.
Looking back on the history of the SAG Awards, there was only one instance where three actors from the same show were nominated together but none of them won the category: TV Comedy Actor in 2004, where the “Everybody Loves Raymond” trio of Peter Boyle, Brad Garrett and Ray Romano all lost to Tony Shalhoub in “Monk.”
SEE 2022 SAG Awards: Full winners list
The first example of a winner emerging from a nominated trio was Edie Falco beating her “The Sopranos” costars Lorraine Bracco and Nancy Marchand in 2000. “Angels in America” earned three slots in both the male and female categories in 2004, with Al Pacino beating Justin Kirk and Jeffrey Wright, while Meryl Streep defeated Mary-Louise Parker and Emma Thompson. In the 2010s, the TV movie/mini actress category saw this occurrence go down two times, with Claire Danes beating “Temple Grandin” costars Catherine O’Hara and Julia Ormond in 2011 and Nicole Kidman beating her fellow “Big Little Lies” ladies Laura Dern and Reese Witherspoon in 2018.
Just last year, “The Crown” nabbed three SAG Award nominations in TV Drama Actress, with Gillian Anderson emerging victorious over Olivia Colman and Emma Corrin. That marked the sixth time one person from a nominated trio prevailed.
“Squid Game” had a great night at the SAG Awards, claiming actor (Lee Jung-jae), actress (Jung Ho-yeon) and stunts. It just missed out on winning the main ensemble prize to the “Succession” cast.
