SAG Awards honours actors of colour amid Oscar controversy

The National:

British actor Idris Elba, a ¬former star of The Wire, ¬received two awards. One was for best supporting actor, for Beasts of No Nation, the first original movie produced by video-streaming service Netflix, which is about child soldiers in Africa. The second was for best actor in a TV movie or mini-¬series, for his role as a troubled detective in British crime drama Luther.

Uzo Aduba took home the award for outstanding actress in a comedy series for her role as Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren in Netflix’s prison comedy-¬drama Orange Is the New Black. The show also won the best comedy ensemble award for a second successive year.

Viola Davis won the best actress award for the legal drama How to Get Away With Murder, while Queen Latifah was named outstanding actress in a television movie or mini-series for her role in HBO’s Bessie, a biopic about blues singer Bessie Smith.

After her win, Davis said: “We’ve become a society of trending topics. Diversity is not a trending topic. Regardless of what’s going on at the Academy, we will always find a way to be excellent.”

Other winners included Oscar front-runner Leonardo DiCaprio for his role as fur trapper Hugh Glass in the revenge thriller The Revenant.