The Actor Statuette: A Work of Art Celebrating Artistry
Standing 16 inches tall and weighing 12 pounds, The Actor® has honored outstanding performances in motion pictures and television since the first Actor Awards in 1995. Holding the masks of comedy and tragedy, the statuette represents the craft at the heart of the Awards: acting.
Sculpted by Edward Saenz and designed by Jim Heimann and Jim Barnett, The Actor has been individually handcrafted at the American Fine Arts Foundry in Burbank, California, for more than three decades. The very first Actor statuette cast remains on display at SAG-AFTRA headquarters in Los Angeles.
Today, under the supervision of Brett Barney and Angel Meza, a team of craftspeople spends three to four months each year creating the statuettes presented at the Awards. More than 1,000 have been produced to date.
Crafting The Actor
Each Actor statuette is hand-cast using the centuries-old lost-wax method.
The process begins with a silicone mold used to create a wax version of The Actor. Because of the statuette’s distinctive pose, the arms are cast separately and attached by hand.
The wax figure is then encased in ceramic to create a mold for molten bronze. Once the bronze cools and solidifies, foundry artists break away the ceramic shell and begin the detailed finishing process, including sandblasting, tooling, grinding, polishing, and metal chasing.
The Actor’s signature blue-green finish is created through chemical oxidation, with heat accelerating the natural patination of the bronze. Each statuette is then mounted on its base, inspected, and stamped with a unique serial number.
Made using the same process each year but finished individually by hand, every Actor is nearly identical, yet no two are exactly alike.
The Actor by the Numbers
- 16 inches tall
- 12 pounds when complete
- 4-inch base diameter
- 3–4 months of production each year
- 10 craftspeople involved in creating the annual collection
- 1,000+ statuettes produced since 1995
- One unique serial number stamped on every Actor
See How The Actor Is Made
Go inside the American Fine Arts Foundry in Burbank to meet the artists and craftspeople behind The Actor and see how each statuette takes shape, from the first wax figure to its signature blue-green patina.
