The year 1995 was on the edge of the Information Age. Technology crept ever forward; the World Wide Web expanded its reach, and out in Earth’s orbit Russian and American astronauts collaborated for the first time. As Forrest Gump ran through history and Vincent and Mia hit the ’50s-themed dance floor in Pulp Fiction, the new millennium was approaching. On television, the casts of Seinfeld and NYPD Blue were painting very different portraits of a changing New York City. On the other coast, the Screen Actors Guild was adding a new night of nervous anticipation to awards season: the Inaugural Screen Actors Guild Awards. Along with the excitement came a healthy dose of quiet skepticism. What would an awards show by and for actors look like? 

The town was about to find out.

In honor of the 31st Annual SAG Awards streaming live on Netflix on Sunday Feb. 23 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT, take a journey into the show’s fascinating history, as told to Tudum by the people who were there.

I. The Plan

Building an awards show from scratch is no mean feat. SAG Awards producers had a to-do list that included polling their base, securing a venue, putting together a calendar, and an unexpected obstacle in the form of The Caped Crusader.

Daryl Anderson, SAG Awards Committee Founding Member and Current Vice Chair: For years, every now and then somebody would pop up with the question, “Why don’t we have an award ceremony like the DGA or the Writer’s Guild?” And the answer was no. There was no way to poll the membership. It was so large then — it was 78,000 people. When interest from a network [NBC] walked through the door, we suddenly saw the possibility of doing that. We had to go through some early discussion about just what our awards year was going to be and what that was going to mean for television seasons. Because in those days, seasons were still very regular. They started in the fall and they ran through the spring, and then they went into three months and we captured the end of one TV season and the beginning of the next.

Kathy Connell, SAG Awards Committee Founding Member and Former Executive Producer: Unlike the Emmys, which kind of does a school year, the SAG Awards does a calendar year. So that was one of the very first decisions we had to make.

Of course, the biggest challenge was an unexpected one: making sure anyone would show up at all.

Connell: We were holding the SAG Awards, and people would say, “SAG awards, what SAG awards?” It was so nerve-racking, because we were throwing one of the biggest parties in Hollywood and we didn’t know if anybody would come.

An invitation to the inaugural Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Anderson: We found out booking one week for a sound stage — they don’t want to do it. They book movies in there for months.

Only a week prior, Stage 12 at Universal Studios had been dominated by the gothic cathedrals and grimacing statues of Joel Schumacher’s upcoming film Batman Forever. 

Connell: The wonderful person who was in charge of stages, Harry Smith, kept going over to Batman going, “You know you’re out next week!”

Anderson: He’d go up to Joel Schumacher and say, “You’re out. Get done. Get off the soundstage, I have a live show coming in.”

Connell: It was fairly terrifying. So we were very fortunate that they were on time and on schedule.

Everett Collection

Anderson: We got a peek at Tommy Lee Jones’ Two-Face makeup because he was heading out to the makeup trailer or coming back from it, and there he was. We were sworn to secrecy.

Also sworn to secrecy: the accountants responsible for counting the guild’s votes — some 78,000 of them, polled by mail. But soon, with Batman and the voting window both vanquished, SAG Awards producers turned to a different obstacle: filling Stage 12’s seats. 

Connell: To this day, RSVPs don’t come in until the last minute. They all came. We didn’t know that it was normal to get your RSVPs very, very late. We’ve learned since.

II. The Show

In 1995 those RSVPs came from a wide range of nominees. Nominations went to performers from runaway box office hit Forrest Gump, postmodern critical favorite Pulp Fiction, and future cable classic The Shawshank Redemption. And no one really knew what to expect.

Judge Reinhold attends the inaugural Screen Actors Guild Awards show with Halle Berry.

Judge Reinhold, Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series Co-presenter: It was the first one, you don’t really know. You’re not aware of the environment or the general attitude. So it was kind of serious, as I remember. It didn’t yet have a reputation for being loose or prestigious, even though I thought we all thought it was a pretty cool thing.

 Linda Gray and Dennis Franz present the award for Outstanding Male Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries.

Dennis Franz (NYPD Blue), Outstanding Male Actor in a Drama Series Winner and Presenter: Honestly, when I first heard about the SAG Awards, my knee-jerk reaction was, “Oh, great. Just what we needed, another award show.” But as I thought more about it, I thought, “This is really actors acknowledging other actors,” and it seemed like a unique, good idea to me. 

Franz and fellow nominee Kelsey Grammer (Frasier) found themselves fitting the show into a busy weekend. 

Franz: We played golf in [Frank Sinatra’s golf tournament], and then we had to get on a plane, come to LA, go to the SAG Awards, and then fly back to finish the golf tournament. I remember laughing with Kelsey on the plane. We were laughing in anticipation, not knowing what to expect.

As the evening started, Angela Lansbury took the stage against a black background delivering a tribute to the profession that tiptoed toward the iconic “I am an actor” speeches of future years without quite landing there. “Let’s face it: At one time or another, everyone loves the opportunity to act,” she said. “No matter what we do, I guess we are all actors at heart. I mean, just watch a child play “Let’s Pretend.”

Angela Lansbury

Connell: Angela Lansbury had the most amazing career: film, stage, television. She’d be comfortable in front of a live audience. She had been on Murder, She Wrote for a decade, one of the biggest stars on television as well as movies. So she was really a perfect person to start the SAG Awards. 

Anderson: I think [“I am an actor”] was originally in Angela’s speech, but her material was rewritten by Bruce Vilanch, and he did a sort of twist on it where she says something to the audience at the end instead. But that vision of someone standing up doing a speech and then saying “I am an actor” was always pretty much part of the mix of our thinking.

Connell: We did that for many years after, until our producer Gloria came up with having multiple “I am an actor’s” from the audience, which we loved. It was a great idea.

Gloria Fujita O’Brien, SAG Awards Consulting Producer: [When I first started,] it was really one major actor at the beginning of the show who told their acting story before going into the show. I had a teenage daughter at the time, and they all talk in sound bites. I’m thinking, “Oh, let’s cut them down and do them quickly.” The producers at that time really liked the idea. From there, it became “I am an actor.”

The cavernous space that had until recently held the towers of Gotham City was now home to one of Hollywood’s starriest parties. Paintings and a spiral staircase decked the stage, and the actors took their seats, some wearing red ribbons in solidarity with people living with HIV/AIDS. In a true actorly moment, some of these attendees were so busy they missed the memo on their nominations — until they won. 

Jodie Foster (Nell), Outstanding Female Actor in a Leading Role Winner: I first heard about my win the next morning. I’d never heard of the nomination, so it was kind of a shock, as if someone had made a mistake. 

Meanwhile, on the television side of the aisle, Seinfeld, Mad About You, and NYPD Blue took home the big awards. The Seinfeld ensemble accepted the SAG Awards’ first comedy ensemble award, walking up the aisles, and making their way past Quentin Tarantino and his Pulp Fiction compatriots.

Jason Alexander presents the award for Outstanding Male Actor in a Drama Series.

Jason Alexander (Seinfeld), Outstanding Male Actor in a Comedy Series Winner and Presenter: I think I was thinking, “Do they know I’m just the supporting actor?” 

Reinhold: I was very excited to present [the ensemble] award, because the year before I had done Seinfeld and got an Emmy nomination for my guest appearance in it. [Reinhold had played Elaine’s too-friendly boyfriend Aaron in Season 5’s episode “The Raincoats.”] And so I knew them, but I also felt they were all very, very well respected ensembles. But I just thought Seinfeld was and continues to be one of the greatest ensembles of all time on TV. I don’t [remember], but I probably would have voted for Seinfeld.

Alexander also presented the award for Outstanding Male Actor in a Drama Series to Dennis Franz of NYPD Blue. As his beaming fiancée, Joanie Zeck, looked on, Franz returned to the stage (having just presented an award to Merel Poloway, the wife of the late Raul Julia). It was a powerful moment for the actor.

Franz: A kid from Chicago, coming from a family of postal workers with absolutely no connections to show business in any of our history, to be the recipient of the first ever Screen Actors Guild Award was a very proud moment for me, my wife, daughters, and our entire family. It’s a great reward in itself as actors to be able to do what we do for a living, but to feel the love and respect from your peers when your name is called, it’s quite humbling and emotional. Even to this day, I occasionally will ponder at that beautiful award and I’ll feel a sense of pride and gratitude. I think, “I got the first one of these 30 years ago.” Wow. Something to remember the rest of my days.

Alexander: I remember so clearly how Tommy Tune gave me my Tony Award. I don’t think you ever tell the story of winning an award without remembering who gave it to you. And so, you want to be full and present and part of the celebration for that person, even if you don’t know them. I did not know Dennis more than a few pleasant hellos. But everyone knows what a gem of a person he is and what a talent. So, it was a treat to be a very small part of his award story.

Franz: I, along with the rest of the world, was a huge fan of Jason’s. [He] was a gentleman and a funny man, obviously. We’ve since run into each other on more than one occasion, and each time it’s always just like seeing an old friend.

Unfortunately, Franz’s winning streak didn’t carry over to the golf tournament. 

Franz: I always think I do OK. And then I realized, wait a minute — I’m, like, second from the bottom.

As the night went on, more actors took the stage: Helen Hunt, Kathy Baker, and Martin Landau were all recipients of the first “Actors,” as the statuettes were nicknamed. Elsewhere, Perfect co-stars Jamie Lee Curtis and John Travolta joined a standing ovation for George Burns, the first recipient of the SAG Life Achievement Award. (Curtis, seated next to her mother, Janet Leigh, was nominated for True Lies, and Travolta for Pulp Fiction.)

Some actors weren’t able to make it to the show: Margaret Cho and David Paymer accepted on Dianne Wiest’s behalf for her performance in Bullets Over Broadway. Two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster also wasn’t able to attend, as she was in pre-production on Home for the Holidays.

Foster: Nell was a performance that was life-changing for me personally but wasn’t necessarily a critics’ favorite. It meant a lot that fellow actors from my very own guild felt moved enough to honor me at [the] first ever event.

That community sentiment was repeated by many nominees and winners throughout the evening; at the climax of the show, Forrest Gump winner Tom Hanks pulled out his SAG membership card onstage, prompting an ovation. 

Connell: Through the years, many recipients have issued the same sorts of sentiments about the journey and how this is a voting body that understands the [actor’s] journey and pride. I mean, Tom Hanks whipping out his SAG card and talking about how he first got it and what it meant to him, what it meant to his wife. Every actor remembers how they got their SAG card. 

Alexander: The nominees are truly created by their peers, and the winners are truly chosen by their peers. It’s as simple as that. It feels like colleagues who understand what it takes to create and sustain a role or what true value there is in an ensemble. It doesn’t feel political or that it’s the result of a great marketing campaign.

Reinhold: We didn’t know that it was going to turn into what it has, in terms of a significant honor to be recognized in [this] business by your peers.

III. The Next Time

As producers turned toward the future of their fledgling show, there were plenty of changes on the way — including the first film ensemble award. But the proud heart of the SAG Awards, established by Hanks’ display of his membership card, remained in place.

Franz: It reminds me of seeing early footage of some of the first Academy Award dinners before they became these huge extravaganzas. It seemed a more simple and intimate evening of friends and workmates, new and old, just getting together to meet and chat and have fun and mostly talk about what actors like to talk about most — that’s acting — and also to give recognition and appreciation to work that was done over the year. It didn’t feel like a big award show event yet.

Fujita O’Brien: It was an uphill climb at the very beginning. I think it was around the 10th anniversary that we all felt, “OK, there definitely is something here. It’s not going to go away. It’s only going to get bigger and better.”

Jodie Foster presents an award at the second annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in 1996.

Foster: I went to the SAG Awards and presented best actor the year after my win. I wanted to present ASAP to acknowledge how touched I was by the previous year’s honor and to be a part of a new tradition. Years later I presented the best ensemble in 2019, my favorite category. Yes, actors work in ensembles, and rarely is that aspect acknowledged.

Foster is nominated for a SAG Award this year, for her performance in NYAD. The film — and a newfound camaraderie with scene partner Annette Bening, also nominated — brought to mind a similar team-player spirit for Foster. “I almost always do movies all by myself, and then various people come in and play bad guys,” she told Netflix earlier this year. “It’s usually this solitary journey. This kind of relationship dynamic is new for me.”

Connell: Actors on television and film do not work alone. They work as a team. And that also reflected the union because the union works as a team to represent its members. So it was very important to us to acknowledge the teamwork of our members together. That was something that the actors loved. They loved that they could be awarded, be honored as a group.

Franz: It’s very clear that any successful show, movie, film, it’s not just one person or two, it’s the whole group. And particularly in a TV show where it’s week after week and over an extended period of time, it has to be a group effort. So it’s very appropriate that the entire cast should be rewarded and awarded acknowledgement for the success of the show.

“I am an actor” has become the rallying cry of the SAG Awards — a reminder of the pride in their profession that keeps even the biggest stars humble. 

Fujita O’Brien: I believe that every actor in that room started somewhere, and a lot of them from waiting tables and doing the audition route. It might not be the same story, but they all have a beginning story.

Alexander: Something about the SAG Award just feels so pure. And because of the sense of purity behind it, I have appreciated and been most proud of these awards. The admiration of fellow artists — nothing feels more wonderful.

These interviews have been condensed and edited for clarity.

1. Mirabelle Parades 2. Sinbad 3. Jerry Orbach 4. Susan Sarandon 5. Tim Robbins 6. Ginger Rogers 7. Martin Landau 8. Jane Seymour 9. Robin Wright 10. Lisa Kudrow 11. Tim Curry 12. Michelle Pfeiffer 13. Jessica Lange 14. Swoosie Kurtz 15. Judge Reinhold 16. Gary Sinise 17. Halle Berry 18. Tom Hanks 19. Samuel L. Jackson 20. LaTanya Richardson Jackson 21. Eriq La Salle 22. Sherry Stringfield 23. Noah Wyle 24. Julianna Margulies 25. Christine Baranski 26. Julia Louis-Dreyfus 27. Jason Alexander 28. Jerry Seinfeld 29. Michael Richards 30. Kathy Baker 31. Cliff Robertson 32. Kelly Preston 33. Helen Hunt 34. Patrick Stewart 35. Wendy Neuss 36. John Travolta 37. Janet Leigh 38. Jamie Lee Curtis 39. Jonathan Taylor Thomas 40. Candice Bergen 41. George Burns 42. Ann-Margret 43. The Actor

Courtesy of Screen Actors Guild; Getty Images

The 30th Annual SAG Awards will air on Netflix on Saturday Feb. 24, 2024 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. You can learn more about the show — including this year’s nominees — right here.