The film starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini won best movie cast at the SAG Awards.
Timothée Chalamet won best male actor a upsetting Adrien Brody in The Brutalist and putting the 29-year-old on course to possibly win his first Academy Award.
Chalamet looked surprised when his name was announced at the ceremony on Sunday but once he reached the staged, he spoke with composure and confidence.
"The truth is, this was five-and-a-half years of my life," said Chalamet of A Complete Unknown.
"I poured everything I had into playing this incomparable artist, Mr Bob Dylan, a true American hero. It was the honour of a lifetime playing him."
"The truth is I'm really in pursuit of greatness. I know people don't usually talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats."
Demi Moore won best female lead actor, for The Substance.
Host Kristen Bell introduced the ceremony from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, as an ode to both the aspirational spirit of actors who come to LA to make it, and to the city, itself.
The SAG Awards unfolded against the backdrop of the aftermath of the devastating wildfires that began in early January.
Those fires forced the guild to cancel its in-person nominations announcement and launch a disaster relief fund for SAG-AFTRA members affected.
Bell introduced attending firefighters as "the most attractive tables" among a sea of stars.
Jean Smart, who had advocated for cancelling award shows because of the wildfires, won best female actor in a comedy series for Hacks. Smart didn't attend, but participated in a pre-taped introduction as her character, Deborah Vance.
Also not in attendance: Martin Short, who upset Jeremy Allen White to win best male actor in a comedy series for Only Murders in the Building.
Colin Farrell won his first SAG award, for his performance in The Penguin after being introduced, by Jamie Lee Curtis, as "the man who gave me COVID at the Golden Globes".
Farrell bounded to the stage and promptly responded, "Guilty as charged," before blaming Brendan Gleeson for giving it to him.
The night's first televised award went to Kieran Culkin, who has won just about every award in the category for best supporting actor for his role in A Real Pain, the story of two cousins who travel to Poland to research their family history.
"Believe it or not, this actually means a lot to me," Culkin said.
Jane Fonda, 87, given the guild's Life Achievement Award, provided the evening with its political moment of protest.
The famed activist, spoke about President Donald Trump's administration.
"We are in our documentary moment," said Fonda.
"This is it. And it's not a rehearsal."
Fonda added that "woke just means you give a damn about other people".
"A whole lot of people are going to be hurt by what's happening, by what's coming our way," she said.
"We are going to need a big tent to resist what's coming at us."
Shogun star Anna Sawai was named best actress in a TV drama for Shogun, the epic tale set in feudal Japan.
The SAG Awards should offer the final clue in an unusually unpredictable Oscar race.
The other major awards — including the BAFTAs, the Producers Guild Awards, the Directors Guild Awards and the Golden Globes — have all had their say. But actors make up the largest piece of the film academy pie, so their picks often correspond strongly with Academy Award winners.
After wins from the Producers Guild Awards and the Directors Guild Awards — and the Independent Spirit Awards — Sean Baker's Anora is seen as the favourite to win best picture in a week's time at the Oscars.
But Edward Berger's Conclave won last weekend at the BAFTAs, the latest wrench in an award season full of them. That's included the unlikely rise and precipitous fall of another top contender, Emilia Pérez.
with reuters
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