Actors Honor Actors

The 19th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be presented on Sunday, Jan. 27. It will be telecast, live, on TNT and TBS cable at 8PM. The film and TV nominees do not differ that much from the Golden Globe nominees. One highlight will be the presentation, by CARL REINER and Alec Baldwin, of the SAG lifetime achievement award to Dick Van Dyke, 87. Reiner, 90, made Van Dyke a star when he cast him in "The Dick Van Dyke Show," which Reiner created and mostly wrote.

Daniel Day-Lewis, whose mother was Jewish, is nominated for best film actor ("Lincoln"); ALAN ARKIN, 78, is up for the SAG award for best supporting actor ("Argo"); and Helen Hunt is up for best supporting film actress for playing therapist CHERYL COHEN-GREENE in "The Sessions."  All three were also nominated for a Golden Globe (Day-Lewis won) and all three are Oscar nominees for these roles this year. (Frankly, it would be an upset of monumental proportions if Day-Lewis doesn't sweep the Globe, SAG award, and Oscar this year. )

The SAG awards include an award for best ensemble cast in a film, and Arkin, along with the rest of the "Argo" cast, is up for that award. Other film casts nominated include: "Les Miserables" (SACHA BARON COHEN, 41) and "Lincoln" (JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT, 31).

JULIANNA MARGULIES, 46, the star of "The Good Wife," is the only Jewish individual award TV nominee (best lead actress in a TV drama). However, quite a few Hebrews are up for a SAG trophy as ensemble cast members of TV dramas or comedies. Drama (" main cast") nominees include MICHAEL STUHLBARG, 44 ("Boardwalk Empire"); MANDY PATINKIN, 60 ("Homeland"), and BEN FELDMAN, 32 ("Mad Men") Comedy nominees include: JUDAH FRIEDLANDER, 43 ("30 Rock"); SIMON HELBERG, 32, MAYIM BIALIK, 37, and MELISSA RAUCH, 32 ("Big Band Theory"); PAUL LIBERSTEIN, 45, and B. J. NOVAK, 33 ("The Office"); and DIANNA AGRON, 26 ("Glee").

More Big Bang and TV News

KEVIN SUSSMAN, 42, who plays comic book store owner "Stuart Bloom" on "Big Bang," was promoted to series regular this season. If "Big Bang" is nominated again next year for a SAG ensemble award--and that's likely--he'll be nominated, too, for his work this season. By the way, in the "all-new" Jan. 31 episode of "Big Bang," Howard Wolowitz (Helberg) is feeling a little guilty for leaving his (Jewish) mother alone in her house now that he is married and living with his wife, Bernadette (Rauch). So, he sends his Asian-American friend Raj over to check on his mother and, as Helberg told the press: "Raj's meek nature is no match for Mrs. Wolowitz, who sucks him into her world of Jewish guilt and food, and he can't leave."

Sussman's regular status on "Big Bang" makes it second only to "How I Met Your Mother" in terms of Jewish actors' percentage of the main cast of a broadcast network show. "HIMYM" has three Jewish leads out of 5 regulars (JASON SEGEL, 32, JOSH RADNOR, 38, and ALYSON HANNIGAN, 38). The Feb. 4 episode of "HIMYM" features the return of star character Robin (Cobie Smulders), who is supposed to be Canadian. A bunch of real-life Canadian celebs guest star, including "Letterman" band leader PAUL SHAFFER, 63; GEDDY LEE, 59, the bass player and frontman of the famous rock band "Rush"; and STEVEN PAGE, 42, who is best known as the former lead vocalist of the rock group Barenaked Ladies (he went solo in 2009).

Nate Bloom writes a weekly column on Jewish celebrities, broadly defined, that appears in the Atlanta Jewish Times, the Cleveland Jewish News, the American Israelite of Cincinnati, the Detroit Jewish News, and the New Jersey Jewish Standard. It also appears bi-weekly in j., the Jewish news weekly of northern California. Most of the items in Bloom’s weekly newspaper column differ from the items in his bi-weekly column on interfaith celebrities for InterfaithFamily.com. If you wish to contact Nate Bloom, e-mail him at middleoftheroad1@aol.com  .  The author welcomes questions and celebrity “tips,” especially about people you personally know.