Catherine O'Hara Secures Posthumous Win at 2026 Actor Awards for 'The Studio' Role
Catherine O'Hara received the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series at the 32nd Annual Actor Awards for her portrayal of Patty Leigh in the Apple TV series "The Studio."
The ceremony took place on March 1, 2026, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
Catherine O'Hara died on January 30, 2026, at the age of 71 after a battle with rectal cancer.
Seth Rogen, co-creator and star of "The Studio," accepted the award during the live-streamed event on Netflix.
"I was asked to assume the honor of accepting this award on O’Hara’s behalf. 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 a big fan of all of yours," Rogen said.
Rogen shared details of their collaboration on the series, which premiered in 2025 and follows the inner workings of a Hollywood studio facing industry challenges.
"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," he added. "She knew she could destroy, and she wanted to destroy every day on set."
The award marks the first posthumous individual win for a female actor in SAG-AFTRA history. Votes came from the union's membership of over 160,000 performers.
Details of O'Hara's Performance in 'The Studio'
O'Hara played Patty Leigh, a seasoned executive navigating corporate politics and creative conflicts in the comedy series.
Her character dealt with studio mergers, talent egos, and shifting media landscapes. The role showcased O'Hara's comedic timing through sharp dialogue and physical humor.
The series also earned a nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, with cast members including Rogen, Kathryn Hahn, Ike Barinholtz, and Chase Sui Wonders.
"I haven’t said this to the other actors, because I don’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 Evan [Goldberg] an email that always was pretty similar. It said, ‘Hello, I hope you’ll consider the following,’ and then there would be a completely rewritten version of the scene," Rogen said. "100 percent 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."
O'Hara's win came amid other television honors at the ceremony, including Seth Rogen's own award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series for the same show.
The audience gave a standing ovation following the announcement.
