'Chicago,' 'Sopranos' claim top honors at SAG awards

LOS ANGELES -- Crime paid at the Screen Actors Guild awards on Sunday, as supporting actor honors went to Catherine Zeta-Jones for playing a jazz-singing murderess in "Chicago" and Christopher Walken won for playing the father of a con artist in "Catch Me If You Can." James Gandolfini and Edie Falco of the HBO mob drama "The Sopranos" also took home awards.

Zeta-Jones said the extensive dance numbers in the film resulted in her and her co-stars being "bruised and iced frequently. If I wasn't pregnant I'd do it all over again, I promise you," she added. Her second child with husband Michael Douglas is due in April.

Zeta-Jones' competition in the category included "Chicago" co-star Queen Latifah, who played a prison matron.

Walken thanked the audience of mainly actors for honoring his work. "I love all of us. We are family and I hope we all work together soon," Walken said.

Walken, Latifah and Zeta-Jones are also nominated in the supporting actor class at the upcoming Academy Awards, set for March 23.

"Chicago" also won for best ensemble. Star Renee Zellweger won an award for outstanding female performer in a leading role. Also nominated in the category were Nicole Kidman for playing Virginia Woolf in "The Hours," Julianne Moore for playing a frustrated 1950s housewife, Salma Hayek for "Frida," a film biography of painter Frida Kahlo, and Diane Lane for the adultery thriller "Unfaithful."

Male lead Richard Gere lost the best actor in a leading role performance to Daniel Day-Lewis, who starred in "Gangs of New York." Also nominated in the category were Jack Nicholson for "About Schmidt,"Nicolas Cage for "Adaptation"and Adrian Brody for "The Pianist."

The Screen Actors Guild Awards is the last of Hollywood's major self-congratulatory events before the Oscars, where "Chicago" also leads nominees with 13 bids, including best picture.

Recognizing performancesSince the guild ceremony only recognizes performances, its ensemble category is regarded as the equivalent of a best-picture prize.

"Chicago" beat out the fantasy epic "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," the surprise blockbuster "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," the suicide drama "The Hours," and the offbeat screenwriting comedy "Adaptation"for the award.

James Gandolfini and Edie Falco won their second guild awards for their starring roles in HBO's gangster drama "The Sopranos," after previously winning dramatic TV performance honors in 2000.

However, the show lost the TV dramatic ensemble prize to HBO's "Six Feet Under," about a California family and their funeral home.

The TV comedy ensemble winner was CBS's "Everybody Loves Raymond."

For a second consecutive year, TV comedy performer trophies went to co-stars Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes of NBC's "Will & Grace."

Outstanding awards for performances in TV movie or miniseries were given toWilliam Macy for his performance in TNT's "Door to Door,"and Stockard Channing for her role in NBC's "The Matthew Shepard Story."

Nominations are chosen by 4,200 randomly selected members of the union. The guild's full membership of 98,000 was eligible to vote for final winners.

Eastwood gains awardThe program for the show, televised live on TNT, also featured a lifetime achievement award for Clint Eastwood, who made his breakthrough on the 1959 TV series "Rawhide" and became a film star playing mysterious gunslingers in Westerns such as "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," (1966) and the rogue cop in the "Dirty Harry" movies.

Since 1971, he has directed 24 films and starred in most of them, including "Pale Rider," (1985) "The Bridges of Madison County" (1995) and "Unforgiven," (1992), which won Academy Awards for best picture and director.

AWARD WINNERS

The following actors won awards at the ninth annual Screen Actors Guild awards, presented Sunday night in Los Angeles:MOVIES

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role: Daniel Day-Lewis, "Gangs of New York"

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role: Renee Zellweger, "Chicago"

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role: Christopher Walken, "Catch Me if You Can"

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role: Catherine Zeta-Jones, "Chicago"

Outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture: "Chicago"TELEVISION

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a movie or miniseries: William Macy, "Door to Door"

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a movie or miniseries: Stockard Channing, "The Matthew Shepard Story"

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama series: James Gandolfini, "The Sopranos"

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a drama series: Edie Falco, "The Sopranos"

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a comedy series: Sean Hayes, "Will and Grace"

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a comedy series: Megan Mullally, "Will and Grace"

Outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series: "Six Feet Under"

Outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series: "Everybody Loves Raymond"