Rami! J. Law! Kerry! How Stars Earned Their SAG Cards

Rami Malek, Jennifer Lawrence, Kerry Washington and more stars recount how they got their SAG cards ahead of the SAG Awards — see more

Whether predictable or totally out of left field, Rami Malek, Jennifer Lawrence, Kerry Washington and more stars gave fans an inside peek at their careers’ beginnings, offering insight into how they earned their SAG cards.

With the Screen Actors Guild Awards — a show honoring actors, voted on by actors and focusing solely on their TV and film work — quickly approaching, now seems like a fine time to revisit celebrities who shared how they received their SAG cards. The token marks acceptance into the union for actors and usually makes its appearance after stars get their first onscreen jobs.

This year’s SAG Awards show will air on Sunday, April 4, after initially being pushed back from January 24 to March 14 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nominees for the 2021 show include Schitt’s Creek’s Catherine O’Hara, Bridgerton’s Regé-Jean Page, Carey Mulligan for Promising Young Woman, and the late Chadwick Boseman, who could accept awards for two separate films.

Keeping with an already-strange awards season, SAG-AFTRA extended the eligibility requirements for the 2021 awards, giving possible nominees a two-month extension. The union also decided to cut the broadcast from its usual three-hour length to one hour, noting that they want to make sure their union members stay healthy.

“We didn’t know what the year would bring in terms of where we would be in COVID, and to pretend that it was a normal year was just wrong,” SAG Awards executive producer Kathy Connell told The Hollywood Reporter in March. “And we are the union, so we wanted our members to be protected. In some instances, our members are in production bubbles, [so] we wanted to make sure we weren’t going to do anything that would prevent them from [working].”

Like last year, the show will go without a host. Celebrities including Lily Collins, Common, Mindy Kaling, Rita Moreno. Ted Danson, Daisy Ridley, Josh Gad, Jimmy Fallon, Sterling K. Brown and Viola Davis will take the stage at the pre-taped show to present awards

SAG-AFTRA approved a new influencer agreement in February 2021, meaning that those who make their living as influencers on TikTok, Instagram, Twitch and all other social media platforms will soon have union protection if they so choose.

While there’s no telling what this will mean for the award show’s future, fans might see stars such as Addison Rae and Charli D’Amelio on this list in the near future.

Scroll to find out how stars — from Betty White to Sophie Turner to Neil Patrick Harris — got their SAG cards.

The 27th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards air on TNT and TBS Sunday, April 4, at 8 p.m. ET.