In the nearly three decades since “Chicago Hope” costars Héctor Elizondo and Mandy Patinkin were nominated against each other for the inaugural Best TV Drama Actor SAG Award in 1995, another seven pairs and one trio of cast mates have directly faced off in the category. Including four rematches, this makes for a total of 13 costar battles that have led to two wins for Anthony Edwards (“ER,” 1996; over George Clooney) and Dennis Franz (“NYPD Blue,” 1997; over Jimmy Smits).
Franz and Smits’s rematch total of three is the second highest across all six of the individual TV SAG Awards categories behind that of comedic “Frasier” pair Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce (seven). In third place on the overall male list with two each are comedy nominees Jason Alexander and Michael Richards of “Seinfeld” and Ty Burrell and Eric Stonestreet of “Modern Family.”
So far, the 1996 and 1997 drama actor lineups have been the only ones to include more than one costar showdown each, as those races both involved the previously mentioned “ER” and “NYPD Blue” duos. Until Brian Cox, Kieran Culkin, and Jeremy Strong were simultaneously nominated for “Succession” in 2022, this was the last of the three male solo categories in which there had never been a three-way cast mate battle.
Scroll through our photo gallery to learn more about the 13 cases of dual nominations in this category, and be sure to tune in to the 29th SAG Awards ceremony, streaming live on Netflix’s YouTube channel on Sunday, February 26.
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Héctor Elizondo and Mandy Patinkin (‘Chicago Hope,’ 1995)
Image Credit: CBS Characters: Phillip Watters and Jeffrey Geiger
Characters’ relationship: Hospital coworkers
Season: 1
Result:
Both lost to Dennis Franz (“NYPD Blue”) -
George Clooney and Anthony Edwards (‘ER,’ 1996-1997)
Image Credit: NBC Characters: Doug Ross and Mark Greene
Characters’ relationship: Hospital coworkers
Seasons: 1 – 3
Results:
1996 – Edwards won
1997 – Both lost to Dennis Franz (“NYPD Blue”) -
Dennis Franz and Jimmy Smits (‘NYPD Blue,’ 1996-1999)
Image Credit: ABC Characters: Andy Sipowicz and Bobby Simone
Characters’ relationship: Police detective partners
Seasons: 2 – 6
Results:
1996; 1998 – Both lost to Anthony Edwards (“ER”)
1997 – Franz won
1999 – Both lost to Sam Waterston (“Law & Order”) -
Dennis Franz and Rick Schroder (‘NYPD Blue,’ 2000)
Image Credit: ABC Characters: Andy Sipowicz and Danny Sorensen
Characters’ relationship: Police detective partners
Season: 6
Result:
Both lost to James Gandolfini (“The Sopranos”) -
William Shatner and James Spader (‘Boston Legal,’ 2009)
Image Credit: ABC Characters: Denny Crane and Alan Shore
Characters’ relationship: Law firm coworkers
Seasons: 4 – 5
Result:
Both lost to Hugh Laurie (“House”) -
Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey (‘True Detective,’ 2015)
Image Credit: HBO Characters: Martin Hart and Rust Cohle
Characters’ relationship: Police detective partners
Season: 1
Result:
Both lost to Kevin Spacey (“House of Cards”) -
Steve Carell and Billy Crudup (‘The Morning Show,’ 2020)
Image Credit: Apple TV+ Characters: Mitch Kessler and Corey Ellison
Characters’ relationship: Former fellow TV network employees
Season: 1
Result:
Both lost to Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”) -
Brian Cox, Kieran Culkin, and Jeremy Strong (‘Succession,’ 2022)
Image Credit: HBO Characters: Logan Roy, Roman Roy, and Kendall Roy
Characters’ relationship: Father and sons
Season: 3
Result:
All lost to Lee Jung-jae (“Squid Game”) -
Jonathan Banks and Bob Odenkirk (‘Better Call Saul,’ 2023)
Image Credit: Greg Lewis/AMC Characters: Mike Ehrmantraut and Jimmy McGill
Characters’ relationship: Criminal associates
Season: 6
Result:
Pending
