This is the first SAG nomination for either actress with both being nominated in the same category alongside Cate Blanchett (Nightmare Alley), Ariana DeBose (West Side Story), and Kristen Dunst (The Power of the Dog).

A two-time IFTA winner and previous Oscar nominee in 2016 for Loving, Ruth Negga has been nominated for her portrayal of Clare Kendry in Netflix racial drama Passing.

Adapted from the celebrated 1929 novel of the same name by Nella Larsen, Passing tells the story of two Black women, Irene Redfield (Tessa Thompson) and Clare Kendry (Negga), who can “pass” as white but choose to live on opposite sides of the colour line during the height of the Harlem Renaissance in late 1920s New York.

After a chance encounter reunites the former childhood friends one summer afternoon, Irene reluctantly allows Clare into her home, where she ingratiates herself to Irene’s husband (André Holland) and family, and soon her larger social circle as well. As their lives become more deeply intertwined, Irene finds her once-steady existence upended by Clare, and Passing becomes a riveting examination of obsession, repression and the lies people tell themselves and others to protect their carefully constructed realities. 

An IFTA winner and five time Golden Globe nominee, Balfe has been nominated for her role in Kenneth Branagh’s Northern Irish Oscar contender Belfast.

Described as his “most personal film” Northern Irish writer-director Branagh’s semi-autobiographical drama, told through the eyes of a semi-fictional young self, also stars Judi Dench, Ciarán Hinds, and newcomer Jude Hill (the boy).

Belfast is decribed as “the humorous, tender, and intensely personal story of one boy’s childhood during the tumult of the late 1960s” with Branagh describing it as being “… about coming home – a dramatic journey of excitement, emotion, and humour.”

Balfe and Dornan play the simply named characters “Pa”and “Ma,” the boy’s “glamorous, working-class” parents, with Dench and Hinds playing his grandparents.

The cast of Belfast has also received a ensemble SAG nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. The actors include are Caitríona Balfe (Ma), Judi Dench (Granny), Jamie Dornan (Pa), Jude Hill (Buddy), Ciaran Hinds (Pop), and Colin Morgan (Billy Clanton).

Nominees for the 28th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® honouring outstanding individual, cast, and ensemble performances for the past year were announced by Rosario Dawson (Dopesick, Go-Big Show) and Vanessa Hudgens (tick, tick…BOOM!, The Princess Switch) via Instagram Live. A replay of the announcement is available for viewing on instagram.com/sagawards.

The 28th SAG Awards® will be nationally simulcast LIVE on TNT and TBS in the US on Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022 at 10pm (Irish time) from The Barker Hangar in Santa Monica.