I am always somewhat leery about the veracity of the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards, considering it’s a bunch of millionaires, sitting around congratulating each other on being MASTERS of the universe.

However, the moment that the 12 th annual award show honored the performance of the grape guy in that fantastically stupid Fruit of the Loom commercial, I knew that this year would be more than a tired game of vanity and self-promotion.

The general atmosphere was classy, elegant and simple – with the actors picking at their salmon and broccoli as their names were being called. There were a number of repeat wins from last week’s Golden Globe Awards, as well as a few surprises.

The biggest races were in the category of Best Male Performance in a Motion Picture and Best Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture. The former, included five solid performances from male actors, each having been seriously considered for a Actor. Ultimately, Philip Seymour Hoffman’s haunting portrayal of homosexual author Truman Copote, remains unbeatable, even by the standout performances of Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix, who have both received Oscar nods. The Actor for Most Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast was equally as competitive of a category, with films like BrokebackMountain, which have been praised by critics all over the world. The guild went with the underdog however, giving the Actor to overlooked Crash.

The big surprise kicker of the evening was in the supporting actor category for film, which went to Paul Giomatti from CinderellaMan. This category, unlike leading male role, contained a number of impressive but not astounding performances, leaving the category open to a steal from a less than stellar performance.

The awards for Television were much less competitive and much more predictable. Actors for comedy ensemble and drama ensemble went to Desperate Housewives and Lost respectively, and if you didn’t already know that was going to happen, move out of the cave that you are living in.

Some of the most gracious and moving award acceptances were also in the television category. Twelve-time nominee Sean Hayes of Will and Grace finally stole the Best performance by an actor in a comedy series, with his teary cast mates clapping uncontrollably for him back at his table, and Sandra Oh, who won for Best Supporting Actress in a comedy, rambled endearingly but incoherently, as she described her thankfulness.

As with any award show, I am fascinated by the strange and wacky things that actors say when they are without a script. Among many favorites, including Giomatti’s which called all actors “weird people”, my very top choice came from actress XXX from Lackawana Blues. She cried, laughed, thanked her close friends, and ended saying, “…and I want to give a public thank you to my divorce lawyer.”