Golden Globe darling Julia Roberts continued her "Erin Brockovich" winning streak and picked up the Screen Actors Guild's top award for a female performance in a movie at the acting union's 7th annual awards ceremony on Sunday. The SAG trophy -- called an Actor -- practically puts a lock on the Oscar for this week's PEOPLE covergirl. (The Academy Awards will be handed out on March 25.) The other big SAG winner was Oscar nominee Benicio Del Toro, who took home the lead male acting prize for his role as the drug enforcer in "Traffic." He beat out such top contenders as Tom Hanks ("Cast Away") and Russell Crowe ("Gladiator"). (SAG voters have called the Oscar winners in the best actor category in all six previous years that they have been handed out, having veered only twice in the actress category, when in 1994 SAG went for Jodie Foster in "Nell," while the Academy picked Jessica Lange for "Blue Sky," and again in 2000 when SAG winner Annette Bening in "American Beauty" lost the Oscar to Hilary Swank" in "Boys Don't Cry.") Albert Finney and Judi Dench won Actors for their supporting roles in "Brockovich" and "Chocolat," respectively. In the TV categories, NBC's "The West Wing" swept three top categories, including best ensemble cast. Individual winners were best actress in a dramatic series Allison Janney (who told the crowd that once she was all prepared to give up acting and become a systems analyst) and best actor Martin Sheen.
For complete Screen Actors Guild coverage, click here.
Julia Roberts's Winning Streak
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