SAG Awards nominee profile: Julia Garner (‘Inventing Anna’) could ride her show’s popularity to first solo victory

Luca Giliberti
·4 min read
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On “Inventing Anna,” Anna “Delvey” Sorokin has no time for her boyfriend Chase (Saamer Usmani), but IRL, Screen Actors Guild Award voters definitely had time for Julia Garner. The 29-year-old performer received a whopping three nominations from the guild this year, including one for her portrayal of Sorokin on the Netflix true-crime drama in the limited series/TV movie actress category. Should the now seven-time nominee triumph for the uber-memeified zeitgeist hit, she would take home her very first statuette.

Created and produced by Shonda Rhimes, “Inventing Anna” is a nine-part dramatization of the story of Russian-born Anna Sorokin, who, using the surname Delvey, conned numerous rich New Yorkers into believing she was a German heiress with access to a substantial fortune. She used this persona to secure loans while working toward her goal of opening an exclusive art-themed club. Inspired by Jessica Pressler’s 2018 viral New York Magazine article, the series recasts Pressler as Vivian Kent (Anna Chlumsky) and follows the journalist as she investigates and eventually breaks the story of the notorious con artist.

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SEE SAG Awards nominee profile: Julia Garner (‘Ozark’) looks to pocket first statuette after 3 Emmy wins

“Inventing Anna” is just the second project for which Garner has been recognized at the SAG Awards. The actor earned all six of her other nominations for her fan-favorite turn as Ruth Langmore on another Netflix series, “Ozark,” breaking through for its second season with solo and ensemble bids in 2019. She then garnered that same pair of noms for the crime drama’s third season in 2021 and for its fourth and final installment this year.

While Garner is tied with Jean Smart as the most nominated person at this year’s awards with three citations, she stands alone as the only performer to be individually acknowledged for two different projects. This is quite the feat for someone who wasn’t even on our radar when she burst onto the SAG Awards scene four years ago, and a clear sign that she is beloved by her peers in the guild. But is that love more likely to translate to a victory for “Ozark” or “Inventing Anna”?

In the limited series/TV movie actress race, she faces a trio of actors also in contention for their portrayals of real people — Jessica Chastain (as Tammy Wynette on “George & Tammy”), Niecy Nash-Betts (as Glenda Cleveland on “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”) and Amanda Seyfried (as Elizabeth Holmes on “The Dropout”) — plus Emily Blunt (“The English”). Of this group, only Blunt and Chastain, who have four and five nominations under their respective belts, have previously prevailed — the former for her supporting turn in “A Quiet Place” (2018) and the latter for her Oscar-winning performance in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” (2021) and as a cast member of “The Help” (2011). Seyfried, who reaped her first and to date only other bid as part of the “Les Misérables” (2012) ensemble, joins Garner as the only other erstwhile nominee still vying for her maiden victory, while Nash-Betts is the lone rookie contender in the category.

So in order to attain the win for “Inventing Anna,” Garner will have to overcome stiff competition, including the person who’s already beaten her at the Emmys, Golden Globes, and Critics Choice Awards: Seyfried. But her secret weapon at SAG is the sheer popularity of her show, which was a smash hit for Netflix and became a pop culture phenomenon upon its February 11 release last year. It’s likely one of very few contending series that most of the guild’s 160,000-plus members have actually seen and has the type of broad appeal that could go a long way with such a diverse voting body (remember: SAG-AFTRA represents not just performers but also media professionals across many different fields).

SEE 2023 SAG Awards TV Predictions: Best Limited Series Actress

While Garner risks splitting her own vote across categories should voters not want to check her off twice, there’s a good chance they choose to throw their support behind her work on “Inventing Anna” as it’s so far gone unrewarded while her performance on “Ozark” has already earned her three Emmys and a Globe. If this happens and Garner indeed triumphs for “Inventing Anna,” she should definitely give her acceptance speech in Sorokin’s accent.

This article is a part of Gold Derby’s “SAG Awards nominee profile” series spotlighting the 2023 contenders in film and TV.

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