http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060130/en_nm/leisure_actors_dc;_ylt=AtZkagPVCVyub0M3mXAEuq9xFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - ABC's hit series "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" won top acting honors for television at the
Screen Actors Guild awards on Sunday as gay cowboy romance "Brokeback Mountain" hoped to lasso yet another major film award on the trail to the March 5 Oscars.
The "Lost" cast won the best ensemble performance award for a dramatic television series while "Desperate Housewives" received the ensemble award for best comedy series.
Paul Giamatti won the best supporting actor award for his role as manager Joe Gould in the boxing film "Cinderella Man," about the life of Depression-era boxer James J. Braddock.
British actress Rachel Weisz won best supporting actress for her role as the doomed activist wife of a British diplomat in "The Constant Gardener," a film based on a thriller by spy novelist John Le Carre.
It was the first nomination and win for "Lost," a castaway thriller that has helped reinvigorate ABC's prime-time schedule.
Felicity Huffman was named best actress in a comedy series for her work as one of the "Desperate Housewives." She is also a contender for best actress for her work in the film "Transamerica," in which she plays a man on the verge of completing a sex change operation.
Sandra Oh was named best actress in a television drama for her work as a fledgling doctor in "Grey's Anatomy" on ABC while
Kiefer Sutherland was named best actor in a dramatic series for his work as a U.S. agent out to foil terrorist plots in "24" on Fox.
Breathless and in tears, Oh, who also won a Golden Globe for her role, thanked her fellow Asian American actors. She said, "I share this with you ... be encouraged and keep shining."
Backstage, Oh said it was important that three actors of Korean descent had been honored by SAG. The other two were ensemble members of "Lost," Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim. She added: "That's quite an advance and I am proud to be part of it."
Sean Hayes, named best actor for his role in the gay-themed NBC comedy "Will & Grace," joked about the anticipation building around Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" as he accepted his award.
"First of all, I would like to thank Ang Lee for taking a chance on me," he said. "I know everyone in Hollywood knows it's such a risk to play a gay character."
"Brokeback" has won major craft guild awards from Hollywood producers and directors and a victory at SAG for best ensemble cast -- the top award given by actors -- could make it virtually unbeatable at the
Academy Awards.
BUZZ FOR 'BROKEBACK'
Directed by Taiwan-born Lee, the film has won critical awards and picked up four Golden Globes. It goes into SAG, whose actor-members constitute the largest voting group for the Oscars, with four nominations.
But not everyone is comfortable with the film, whose theme is a forbidden romance between two cowboys.
President George W. Bush ducked a question last week on whether he planned to see the film, and no movie whose theme is a gay romance has won a best-picture Oscar, the symbol of mainstream success.
In a Hollywood awards-show tradition, actors ambled up the red carpet, often steered by publicists, stopping to pose for the battery of assembled photographers and to answer questions from the celebrity press.
Sutherland drew screams from fans when he cut through a velvet rope to sign autographs.
Jake Gyllenhaal, a critical favorite for his turn in "Brokeback," offered an apologetic wave to fans as he was led into the auditorium to prepare to present one of the awards.
Up against "Brokeback" in the ensemble cast category are "Capote," about the moral crisis Truman Capote faced in writing "In Cold Blood," "Crash," a racial drama set in Los Angeles, "Hustle and Flow," about a pimp's dream of stardom, and "Good night, and Good Luck," about Edward R. Murrow's fight against Sen. Joe McCarthy.
Besides the ensemble award for the "Brokeback" cast, Heath Ledger is up for best actor, Jake Gyllenhaal for best supporting actor and Michelle Williams for best supporting actress.
Ledger competes against Russell Crowe for "Cinderella Man," David Strathairn for "Good Night, and Good Luck," Joaquin Phoenix for "Walk the Line" and Oscar favorite Philip Seymour Hoffman for "Capote."
Competing in the best actress category are Huffman for "Transamerica," Reese Witherspoon for "Walk the Line," Judi Dench for "Mrs. Henderson Presents," Charlize Theron for "North Country" and Ziyi Zhang for "Memoirs of a Geisha."
