Wearing an impeccable blue go well with, Daniel Armella steps into the highlight to obtain an Oscar-shaped statuette.
Except that as an alternative of being lined in gold, this trophy for Hollywood’s finest extras is product of plastic.
It is a minor element for Armella, a background actor within the crime collection “High Potential” who’s as excited to get the nod as a film star receiving an Academy Award.
“Wow! This is my third nomination, I was kind of feeling like a Leonardo DiCaprio stand-in,” he mentioned, referring to the Hollywood star’s lengthy look forward to his Oscar.
Welcome to the eighth Annual Background Actors Awards, a ceremony held Sunday in parallel with Hollywood’s glitzy award season — however for these nameless individuals who fill your screens daily.
Without uttering a phrase, they painting the nurses bustling behind medical doctors within the hit collection “The Pitt,” the brokers guarding a criminal offense scene in “NCIS” or, like Armella, work as “stand-ins” for stars.
“We’re not just props that eat, we are people who are actually there and make the scene worthwhile,” mentioned the occasion’s founder, Vincent Amaya. “We are needed and without us, everything would look like crap.”
Since 2018, he has been organizing this gala for these typically ignored leisure business staff in Los Angeles.
The winners are awarded a “Blurry” — the casual nickname for the awards given to those performers, who typically ply their craft within the background.
The night follows the format of Hollywood’s higher-profile ceremonies, although with much less glam.
Sequined attire combine with easy denims, and tuxedos are typically worn with work boots.
A dozen awards are introduced, together with “Best First Responder Look” and the highest class, “Best Background Actor Ensemble.”
This 12 months, that award went to “High Potential,” a present starring Kaitlin Olson as a high-IQ single mom who helps the Los Angeles Police Department clear up crimes.
The jury is made up of about 40 members, every with a mean of 20 years of expertise, who’re liable for evaluating the nominees’ appearances on display.
“Background actors are like ninjas, and only ninjas can determine who else is a good ninja,” Amaya advised AFP.
Amaya, who’s used to taking part in small roles, desires higher recognition for extras, to match the awards now given to others who have been as soon as within the background, like stunt performers and casting administrators.
And he has ideas on the time period “extra.”
“Calling us extras makes it sound like we’re additional, or we’re not needed,” he mentioned. “But we are needed and our profession should be recognized.”
Specifically, he desires a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame to collectively honor all background actors, as many desire to be known as.
Kyle Humphrey, who works on “High Potential,” mentioned the Blurries are “a baby step towards that.”
Humphrey factors out the onerous work that goes into the job.
“The hours are incredibly long. You need to have stamina and be ready to sometimes shoot outside in the freezing cold or in the rain,” she mentioned, after coming off a 14-hour day of filming.
“Background actors work just as hard as all of the main actors do,” mentioned Humphrey, who sometimes doubles for Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts.
Like many within the room, she is aware of she is likely one of the fortunate ones who continues to be working.
Between the pandemic, the 2023 strikes that bolstered a pattern for studios to relocate manufacturing, and final 12 months’s wildfires, the business in Los Angeles has gone by means of some darkish years.
The actors’ strike notched an settlement that protects unionized background staff from the unauthorized replication of their picture by synthetic intelligence. But they know that many producers dream of changing them with the expertise.
The look within the fall of Tilly Norwood, an “actress” created fully by AI, has bolstered these fears.
“This is coming like a tsunami and we are the first people on the battle line,” mentioned Sherry Brown, a background actor.
Awarded for her function as a stand-in within the sitcom “Leanne,” she has acquired provides for movies that will pay extra — on the situation that she conform to have her physique scanned to coach an AI.
“I said no, but when you do that, you don’t get the job,” she mentioned. “And it only takes them a few people who say ‘yes’ to bury us.”
© 2026 AFP