Streep, Penn bring home top acting honors at SAGs

Members of the cast of “Slumdog Millionaire,” from left, , Dev Patel, Freida Pinto and Anil Kapoor, pose backstage with the award for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture during the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday in Los Angeles.

Sceen Actors Guild award winners

Complete list of winners of the 15th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, presented Sunday in Los Angeles:

Movies

• Cast: “Slumdog Millionaire.”• Actor in a leading role: Sean Penn, “Milk.”• Actress in a leading role: Meryl Streep, “Doubt.”• Supporting actor: Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight.”• Supporting actress: Kate Winslet, “The Reader.”• Stunt ensemble: “The Dark Knight.”

Television

• Drama series cast: “Mad Men.”• Actor in a drama series: Hugh Laurie, “House.”• Actress in a drama series: Sally Field, “Brothers & Sisters.”• Comedy series cast: “30 Rock.”• Actor in a comedy series: Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock.”• Actress in a comedy series: Tina Fey, “30 Rock.”• Actor in a movie or miniseries: Paul Giamatti, “John Adams.”• Actress in a movie or miniseries: Laura Linney, “John Adams.”• Stunt ensemble: “Heroes.”• Achievement: James Earl Jones.

Los Angeles ? Meryl Streep of the Roman Catholic drama “Doubt” and Sean Penn of the Harvey Milk film biography “Milk” won lead-acting honors Sunday at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

The prize for overall cast went to the rags-to-riches saga “Slumdog Millionaire,” while Heath Ledger of the Batman blockbuster “The Dark Knight” and Kate Winslet of the Holocaust-themed drama “The Reader” took supporting honors.

“Can I just say there is no such thing as the best actress, you know? There is no such thing as the greatest living actress,” said Streep, the Academy Awards record-holder with 15 acting nominations, including one for “Doubt,” in which she plays an old-school nun in a war of wills with a priest.

“I am in a position where I have secret information, that I know this to be true,” she said. “I am so in awe of the work of the women this year — nominated, not nominated — so proud of us girls. And everybody wins when we get parts like this.”

The honors raise winners’ prospects to take home Hollywood’s big prizes at the Academy Awards on Feb. 22.

Two-time Oscar winner Streep’s best-actress competitors this time will include Winslet, who was nominated by Oscar voters in that category rather than the supporting one for “The Reader.”

Oscar winner Penn played gay-rights political pioneer Milk but said the film had a universal theme.

“As actors, we don’t play gay, straight. We don’t play any of these kinds of people. We play human beings, and this movie is something that all of us involved are so proud of,” Penn said. “This is a story about equal rights for all human beings.”

A low-budgeted film with a cast of unknowns, “Slumdog Millionaire” continued to live up to its story line about a poor boy who rises from squalor on the streets of Mumbai to find love, fame and fortune as a champion on India’s version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

“Slumdog Millionaire” dominated the Golden Globes and has 10 Oscar nominations, including best picture.

Co-star Anil Kapoor, accepting on behalf of the “Slumdog” cast, dedicated the award to the children in the cast.

“They deserve this award. They set our performances,” he said. “It’s the children who’ve done it, not us.”

Ledger’s supporting-actor prize for his sociopathic reinvention of Batman bad guy the Joker put the late actor a step closer to becoming just the second performer to win a posthumous Academy Award.

“Knight” co-star Gary Oldman accepted the award.

“I’m quite emotional,” Oldman said. “It is a great honor to be asked to accept this on behalf of Heath. He was an extraordinary young man with an extraordinary talent, and it is wonderful that you have acknowledged that and honored that talent tonight.”