LOS ANGELES: Hollywood's actors began picking the best performances of 2011's movies when the curtain came up on the annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday with Christopher Plummer taking home the first film honour for supporting actor.

Plummer, 82, who plays an elderly man who comes out of the closet as a gay man much to the chagrin of his family, thanked his fellow actors from the stage, calling them a wacky but wonderful bunch of artists.