A night already brimming with emotion reached a peak of reverence and reflection when Catherine O’Hara was honored with the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Awarded posthumously for her work on the Apple TV+ series The Studio, the ceremony brought the entertainment community together in memory, applause and tears.
O’Hara, who passed away on January 30 at age 71 after a brief illness, received the standing ovation of the evening when her name was announced. Co-creator and co-star Seth Rogen took the stage to accept the award on her behalf, delivering a tribute that underscored not just her brilliance as a performer but her generosity as a collaborator.
“I was asked to assume the very sad honor of accepting this award on O’Hara’s behalf,” Rogen told the audience. “I know she would have been honored to receive this award from her fellow performers, who I know she respected so much. She was such big fans of all of yours.”
The emotional weight of the moment was not just in the recognition of a singular performance, but in the celebration of a career defined by warmth, wit and indelible comic presence. Rogen shared, that every night before she had a shooting day, O’Hara would send detailed notes and rewrites that “literally 100 percent of the time” made not just her character better, but the entire show better as a whole.
“She really showed that you can be a genius and you can be kind,” Rogen said. “And one of those things does not have to come at the expense of the other in any way, shape or form.”
For Chicago audiences, O’Hara’s legacy carries a special resonance. Long before Schitt’s Creek and her final award-winning turn, she was forever etched into holiday film history as Kate McCallister in Home Alone, the John Hughes classic filmed in and around Chicago. Her portrayal of the frantic, fiercely determined mother racing back to suburban Chicago to reunite with her son remains one of the most beloved performances in the city’s cinematic history.
In closing his speech, Rogen offered a reminder of the work that will continue to introduce her to new generations:
“If you have people in your lives who don’t know her work, if there are kids in your lives, or just people who are out of touch, or stupid, or something, just show them O’Hara dancing to Harry Belafonte in Beetlejuice. Show them O’Hara hurting her knee in Best in Show and doing that amazing thing where she hobbles around, and tell the people, as they are laughing, that that’s Catherine O’Hara. We were lucky that we got to live in a world where she so generously shared her talents with us.”
The tribute resonated far beyond the auditorium. It was not just a posthumous win. It was an industry standing together to honor a singular comic force whose work will endure for generations.
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