Actor Awards 2026 nominees were revealed on Wednesday (January 7) by hosts Janelle James and Connor Storie through a worldwide live stream. Soon, the organizers of the annual award ceremony, formerly known as the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG), were embroiled in a controversy. The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is currently facing backlash for excluding foreign-language films from the nomination list.
Several Moviegoers shared their disappointment online by accusing SAG-AFTRA of "xenophobia" after the nominees for the Actor Awards 2026 were announced on Wednesday. A few of them said it was not shocking that they don't value foreign language films and actors.
"No international noms at #ActorAwards and #CriticsChoiceAwards relegated foreign films to the red carpet. Even with Wagner Moura's peak performance, Hollywood chooses xenophobia over cinematic intelligence. A total joke," a social media user wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Many critically acclaimed foreign language films, including the 2026 Critics' Choice Awards winner and Brazilian neo-noir political thriller The Secret Agent, were excluded from the Actors Awards nomination list.
"The least shocking thing about the #ActorAwards nominations is that all non-English language movies were snubbed. I couldn't be less shocked. These awards are not serious and never were!" another Netizen shared.
Some non-English language movies, such as the Iranian crime thriller It Was Just an Accident, the French-Spanish film Sirat, Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value, and the South Korean comedy thriller No Other Choice, were also not included in the nomination list. All these films were predicted to be the frontrunners in this year's award season. They were nominated in the Best Film and Best Non-English Language Film categories for the 2026 Golden Globes.
"So, no one is questioning these nominations from SAG, but they all went mad at the Globes years ago? LOL. #ActorAwards," a moviegoer said.
"It's so ironic. SAG is more left-leaning and pro-immigrants. But they don't value non-English actors/films. I don't want to hear them b****ing about the current US govt, ok? Lmaoooooo," another moviegoer wrote.
Actor Awards 2026 will take place at the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall in Los Angeles on Sunday, March 1 from 8:00 pm ET / 5:00 pm PT. The 32nd annual award ceremony will be streamed live via Netflix. During the star-studded evening, iconic actor Harrison Ford will receive the SAG-AFTRA Life Achievement Award for his humanitarian and career accomplishments.
