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ABC News
ABC News
National
music & pop culture reporter Mawunyo Gbogbo

Squid Game makes history at the 28th Screen Actors Guild Awards

Jung Ho-yeon shed tears as she received her award for her outstanding performance in Squid Game. (Reuters: Mario Anzuoni)

There was barely a dry eye in the room when Jung Ho-yeon received her first Screen Actors Guild award for outstanding performance by a female actor in a drama series for her role in the Netflix sensation Squid Game. 

"I just want to say, thank you so much."

Jung was up against Australian Sarah Snook for Succession, as well as Elisabeth Moss for The Handmaid’s Tale, and Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon who were both nominated for The Morning Show.

When her name was called, Jung didn't seem to quite believe it, later collapsing to the ground in front of her co-star Lee Jung-jae, who also won a SAG award for best male actor in a drama series ahead of actors including Brian Cox who was nominated for Succession.

The wins made history.

It was the first time actors in a non-English language series took home awards at the SAGs.

In fact, Squid Game was the first non-English language series nominated by the guild.

Squid Game also took home the award for outstanding performance by a stunt ensemble in a television series.

Korean drama Squid Game won three of the four awards it was nominated for. (Netflix: Noh Juhan)

The drama revolves around a contest where hundreds of cash-strapped participants play children's games for the chance to win a mind-blowing amount of money.

But the stakes are deadly.

Lose, and you get eliminated in the real sense of the word.

The show was wildly popular when it hit Netflix, where it pulled massive streaming numbers.

Korean film and TV is fast gaining recognition, with Parasite winning best picture at the Oscars in 2020 — also an historic moment

It was the first foreign language film to win the best picture gong.

History was also made at the SAG Awards when Troy Kotsur of CODA became the first deaf actor to ever win an individual SAG award. 

He won for outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role.

Squid Game won three of the four awards it was up for, missing out to Succession for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series.

When accepting that award, actor Brian Cox, who uttered an expletive (and also had an expletive printed on his face mask), delivered some blunt remarks on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"The people in Russia who don't like what's going on — and particularly the artists — I think we should join and celebrate them and hope that they can make a shift, as I believe they can," Cox said.

The SAGs are considered one of the most reliable predictors of the Oscars. 

They were held in Santa Monica, California in an in-person ceremony where the stars glittered on the red carpet

Get your full list of winners here, and read reviews on some of the winning films below.

ABC/Wires

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