LOS ANGELES: Crime caper "American Hustle" won the top film prize at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards on Saturday, earning another big boost in Hollywood´s all-important Oscars race.
Australian Cate Blanchett won best actress for her role in Woody Allen´s "Blue Jasmine," while Matthew McConaughey won best actor for AIDS activist movie "Dallas Buyers Club."
Jared Leto won best supporting actor for his role in "Dallas Buyers Club," while best supporting actress went to Lupita Nyong´o in the harrowing drama "12 Years a Slave."
On the small screen, best drama went to cult series "Breaking Bad" and best comedy to "Modern Family."
The SAGs, the latest show in Hollywood´s annual awards season, are seen as one of the better indicators of prospects for the Academy Awards, Tinseltown´s most coveted honors, which this year will be held on March 2."American Hustle," based on a 1970s FBI sting operation known as ABSCAM, topped the winners at last weekend´s Golden Globes with three awards and has 10 Oscar nominations.
Blanchett is increasingly seen as the Oscar best actress frontrunner for playing a Manhattan socialite struggling to cope after her swindler husband kills himself and she is forced to go and live with her poor sister in San Francisco.
"For those who voted for me, I thank you, and for those who didn´t, better luck next year," Blanchett said in her acceptance speech Saturday. (AFP)