Toni Collette's domination of TV comic actress awards came to an end, Nicole Kidman's musical Nine failed to generate Oscar heat and Simon Baker could not shake his bridesmaid tag at the 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.
It was a dismal night for Australia's nominees, with former Home and Away star Ryan Kwanten also walking out of the Shrine Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles empty-handed.
The SAG Awards, decided by almost 120,000 actors, honour both TV and film.
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Collette was the reigning queen of US television comedy after trumping the likes of 30 Rock's Tina Fey and Nurse Jackie's Edie Falco at last week's Golden Globes and the Emmys in September for her performance as a mother with dissociative identity disorder in United States of Tara.
But it was Fey who took the SAG Award on Saturday night.
"I'm very surprised," Fey told the A-List crowd in the Shrine.
Baker has also become a regular on the award show circuit for his TV series The Mentalist, earning Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, but has failed to win one.
In a repeat of last week's Golden Globes, Michael C Hall relegated Baker to bridesmaid by taking the TV drama acting SAG for playing a serial killer juggling family life in Dexter.
Kwanten was nominated along with his co-stars in the vampire TV series True Blood for SAG's outstanding ensemble in a TV drama series award. It went to the cast of Mad Men.
The SAG Awards are the final major Hollywood test before the March 7 Academy Awards ceremony, and history shows SAG winners often go on to grab Oscars.
Months ago Kidman's musical Nine was considered an Oscar threat for best picture, however it now seems like a long shot with snubs at the Golden Globes and now the SAGs.
Kidman and her cast of Penelope Cruz, Kate Hudson, Marion Cotillard and Daniel Day-Lewis were nominated for SAG's outstanding performance by a cast award, but the cast of Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, headed by Brad Pitt, Eli Roth and Christopher Waltz, were named the winners.
The win boosts Inglorious Basterds' best picture Oscar hopes against frontrunners The Hurt Locker and Avatar.
SAG voters also gave Sandra Bullock, for the drama The Blind Side, a best actress Oscar boost by honouring her ahead of Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia) and Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) with the female actor in a leading film role award.
"If this wasn't televised I could use the appropriate words I'm feeling right now," a shocked Bullock, fighting to not let out an expletive, said on stage.
Jeff Bridges continued his undefeated run through award season with the best lead actor film SAG for his performance as an alcoholic country singer in Crazy Heart.
The supporting actor categories also followed the script of past award ceremonies with Austria's Waltz winning for Inglourious Basterds and Mo'Nique for Precious.
The Oscar nominations are announced on February 2 and the winners on March 7.
