Los Angeles (CNN) -- "Help" actress Octavia Spencer and "Beginners" actor Christopher Plummer earned frontrunner status for next month's Academy Award best supporting actor competition by winning the Screen Actors Guild honors Sunday night.
Hollywood's awards season nears mid-point Sunday night with the 18th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards -- the only industry honors that solely recognize performers.
The SAG Actor trophies go to both television and film actors, and the winners are chosen by their acting peers.
SAG President Ken Howard also used the event to announce the actor union's board approved a proposal to merge with AFTRA, another acting union, pending approval of their memberships.
Both Spencer and Plummer also claimed the best supporting actor Golden Globes two weeks ago.
"I just cannot tell you how much fun I've had being a member of the world's second oldest profession," Plummer said as he accepted his SAG trophy.
Spencer's SAG honor came for her role in "The Help," which tells the story of the treatment of maids in a Mississippi town during the civil rights era.
"These women represent our mothers and grandmothers," Spencer said, referring to the maids portrayed in "The Help."
"By honoring me, you're honoring them," she said.
On the prime-time television side, "Modern Family" won the best ensemble cast in a TV comedy series for a second year.
Jessica Lange won the SAG Actor trophy for best actress in a TV drama series for her work in the FX's "American Horror Story." It is her first SAG honor.
"It was a real leap of faith for me to jump into it, but it's been a wonderful ride," Lange said of her role as "Constance."
Steve Buscemi won the SAG best actor in a TV drama series award for a second year. He was honored for his role of Enoch "Nucky" Thompson in HBO's "Boardwalk Empire."
In the television movie or miniseries categories, best actress award went to Kate Winslet for "Mildred Pierce." Paul Giamatti won best actor for his portrayal of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in "Too Big To Fail."
Alec Baldwin won SAG's best actor in a TV comedy series for "30 Rock," while 89-year-old Betty White was given the best actress in a comedy award for "Hot in Cleveland," which she won last year.
"I don't think they can read," White said as she accepted. "I think they made a terrible mistake."
White, the darling of last year's SAG telecast, will turn 90 just days before the next awards show.
The showdowns between actors George Clooney and Jean Dujardin, and actresses Meryl Steep and Michelle Williams promise to provide the biggest drama in the SAG ceremony televised live from the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles.
All four are nominated for best actor or best actress Oscars, to be handed out in four weeks, and each won best actor Golden Globes when the award season unofficially began two Sundays ago.
But SAG and the Academy Awards do not have separate categories for dramas and comedies, unlike the Globes, making this their first head-to-head competition in the run-up to the Oscars.
Clooney's best actor nomination is for the role of a father struggling with his relationship with his two daughters, while his wife is in a coma and dying, in "The Descendants." The movie is also nominated for best movie cast, the SAG's equivalent to Academy Awards' best-picture category.
Dujardin is nominated for "The Artist," a black-and-white, silent film that SAG nominated three times. Co-star Berenice Bejo is up for best supporting actress and the movie is competing in the best cast category.
"The Artist" gathered 10 Oscar nominations last week, including for best picture, second only to Martin Scorsese's "Hugo," which was given 11. "Hugo" has no SAG nominations.
Other leading actors in the running for SAG awards include "Moneyball" star Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, who played the title role in "J. Edgar," and Demian Bichir for "A Better Life."
The best actress competition features Streep, who won the drama film best actress Globe for her portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "Iron Lady," and Williams, who carried home the comedy or musical film Globe for playing movie legend Marilyn Monroe in "My Week With Marilyn."
SAG could opt to honor best actress nominees Glenn Close for "Albert Nobbs," Tilda Swinton for "We Need to Talk About Kevin," or "The Help" leading actress Viola Davis.
"The Help," which tells the story of the treatment of maids in a Mississippi town during the civil rights era, leads in SAG nominations with four, including for best movie cast. Octavia Spencer -- who won a Golden Globe -- and Jessica Chastain are both competing for best supporting actress in the SAG and Oscar competition.
Close co-star Janet McTeer, whose female character in "Albert Nobbs" passes as a male house painter in 19th century Ireland, is also competing for SAG's best supporting actress honor.
Melissa McCarthy's "Bridesmaid" role also put her in the best supporting actress category. The comedy is the only SAG best cast nominee not also up for a best picture Oscar.
Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" rounds out the best cast category.
The best supporting actor competition includes Pitt's "Moneyball" co-star Jonah Hill, Williams' "My Week With Marilyn," co-star Kenneth Branagh, DiCaprio's "J. Edgar" co-star Armie Hammer, Nick Nolte for "Warrior" and Christopher Plummer for "Beginners." Plummer won the supporting actor award at the Golden Globes.
The show at the Shrine Exposition Center is airing on TNT and TBS. Both TNT and TBS are units of Time Warner, the parent company of CNN.