The Actor statuettes - which this year's 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® honorees will receive for outstanding performances in 2016 - have been cast in solid bronze at the American Fine Arts Foundry in Burbank, California. SAG Award® nominated actor Mykelti Williamson (Fences, Forrest Gump) was there to watch the dramatic process in person, as were SAG Awards Committee Vice Chair Daryl Anderson and SAG Awards Committee Member Woody Schultz.
Each Actor® statuette carries a serial number engraved at its base, with The Actor No. 1 kept on display at SAG-AFTRA headquarters in Los Angeles. Since 1995, when the first Actor statuettes were presented, 952 statuettes have been awarded. The Actor was sculpted by Edward Saenz and designed by Jim Heimann and Jim Barrett. Each statuette is produced at the American Fine Arts Foundry under the supervision of Brett Barney and Angel Meza. Each Actor statuette is individually cast in solid bronze using the lost wax process, then is given a green-black patina finish and mounted on a base of polished black granite by a small team of fine arts professionals. The completed work of art weighs 12 pounds and stands 16 inches tall. The SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS will not know how many of The Actor® statuettes it will need until the awards presenters open the envelopes on Jan. 29. Though the number of categories is known ahead of time, the possibility of multiple recipients sharing awards in the Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Motion Picture, Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series and Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series categories makes the total number of statuettes that will be awarded unpredictable. Any surplus Actor statuettes will find a home in the SAG Awards vault until next year.
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