Catherine O'Hara leaves Hollywood audience in tears as late star wins posthumous trophy at 2026 Actor Awards

Catherine O’Hara left Hollywood in tears at the 2026 Actor Awards as her posthumous win for The Studio was accepted by co-star Seth Rogen.

The actor stepped up to accept the Actor Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series on behalf of the late star, calling it a 'very sad honor.'

Rogen delivered a heartfelt tribute to O’Hara, describing her as a performer who commanded respect and admiration from her peers, while the SAG-AFTRA audience rose to their feet in a standing ovation.

'I know she would have been humbled to receive this award from her fellow performers, who she admired so much,' he said, his voice breaking as the camera panned to a tearful Kathryn Hahn.

The emotional moment continued as attendees like Jenna Ortega - who starred alongside O’Hara in Beetlejuice and was nominated in the same category - dabbed at their eyes during the speech.

O’Hara, who passed away in late January at the age of 71 from a pulmonary embolism caused by rectal cancer, delivered her final brilliant performance in The Studio, bringing her signature wit and charm to character Patty Leigh. 

Rogen continued, ‘I, obviously, have been reflecting on the time I was fortunate enough to spend with her and working with her, and something that I’ve just been marveling at over the last few weeks was really her ability to be generous and kind and gracious, while never, ever minimizing her own talents and her own ability to contribute to the work that we were doing. 

'She knew she could destroy, and she wanted to destroy every day on set.’

He marveled at O’Hara’s control over her craft, revealing how she meticulously reshaped her scenes. 

‘And I haven’t said this to the other actors, because I didn’t want them to get ideas, but pretty much every evening before she had a shooting day on our show, she would email me and [co-creator/EP] Evan [Goldberg] an email that always was pretty similar, and it said, “Hello, I hope you’ll consider the following.” And then there would be a completely rewritten version of the scene she was in.’

Rogen added, ‘And literally, 100% of the time, it made not just her character better, but it made the scene better and the entire show better as a whole. 

'And she really showed that you can be a genius and be kind, and one of those things does not have to come at the expense of the other in any way, shape or form.’

Concluding the moving tribute, he urged the audience to share O’Hara’s work with anyone who hadn’t yet experienced it. 

‘So I guess I’ll just leave you with this. If you have people in your lives that don’t know her work, if they’re 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 and 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, and we were lucky that we got to live in a world where she so generously shared her talents with us.’

O’Hara made history as the first woman in the Screen Actors Guild to earn an individual trophy posthumously. 

She had also been honored as an ensemble member in The Studio and previously won in the category for the final season of Schitt’s Creek.

The Studio racked up five Actor Award nominations this year, taking home three wins, including the prize for Best Ensemble Performance in a Comedy Series. 

Earlier in the evening, Rogen also scored the award for Best Actor for his role in the comedy.

Rogen had already paid tribute to O’Hara back in January on Instagram.

The star called it a ‘true honour’ to have worked with her. 

He added, ‘This is just devastating. We're all lucky we got to live in a world with her in it.’

Fellow cast members shared their own heartfelt memories. 

Chase Sui Wonders described O’Hara as someone who ‘radiated goodness and light,’ while Hahn said her late co-star ‘inspired me at every single turn, as an artist and a human.’ 

Ike Barinholtz echoed the sentiment, admitting he was ‘so profoundly sad she’s somewhere else now’ but also ‘so incredibly grateful I got to spend the time I did with her.’