The WGA (Writers Guild of America) strike has been going on for about two months and now with the SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) now on strike as well we are looking at a potential massive coup in Hollywood.
With the movie studios revealing their greed because of their unwillingness to negotiate with both unions, unlike Black Adam, this actually could change the power dynamics in the industry. Though SAG is currently on strike with the WGA, there were several actors at the beginning of the strike that were showing their solidarity with the unions before most. Here are 10 of the loudest and most supportive members of SAG.
Mandy Patinkin
Tony and Emmy Award-winning actor Mandy Patinkin has been spotted many times on the picket lines during the writer's strike. Iconically played Iñigo Montoya in Rob Reiner’s The Princess Bride, an absolute god-tier performance in what is one of the more beloved adventure comedies of the '80s as a man who is on the search for his father’s killer to avenge his death. With a background in theater, Patinkin starred in many plays over the years alongside greats such as Meryl Streep and John Lithgow, eventually landing the role of Che in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita, for which he won the Tony in 1980.
He fully understands the importance of writers, not only to Hollywood but to his amazing career, Tweeting a video of himself standing silently against a wall with the caption, “This is what I would be doing on TV without writers.” He goes on to add, “Writers are asking for fairness: when the studios invest millions into producing a film or series, they can pay for the value writers create.” Mandy Patinkin is one of our greatest living actors who are in 100% support of the writers and was an early actor to call for SAG to go on strike as well.
Mark Hamill
Luke Skywalker himself has been in support of the WGA strike since the beginning. With more credits to his name than there are stars in the Milky Way galaxy due to his voice acting career, Mark Hamill has no more iconic role than that unassuming young man raised on a moisture farm on the planet Tatooine who goes on to become one of the greatest Jedi of all time. Hamill’s career was jump-started by the incomparable George Lucas, who wrote and directed the original Star Wars trilogy.
He has also been the voice of the Joker since Batman: The Animated Series and all the Batman: Arkham video game series. Hamill knows the importance of writers, Tweeting out “‘If it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage.’#WGAStrong.” An old industry adage that means one could have all the right ingredients to make a good movie, play, or television show, but without a good script none of those things matter. Mark Hamill is a legendary actor who has had a long and storied career and recognizes that writers should be paid their fair share.
Chris Pine
The star of the recent masterpiece that is Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was spotted on the WGA picket lines in the early days of the strike. With many movies under his belt, Pine is probably our best of the many celebrity Chris’, Pine portrayed Captain James T. Kirk in the J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboots as well as Steve Trevor in the Wonder Woman movies directed by the great Patty Jenkins. Pine was spotted with Jenkins walking the picket lines with a sign that read “SAG-AFTRA Supports WGA”.
Writer Jonterri Gadson Tweeted a photo of the two of them with a caption reading, “Chris Pine brings empanadas to the picket line. Me: you should call them em-pine-nadas. Get me back to work! I’m giving great jokes away for free! #WGASTRONG.” Chris Pine is an especially kind celebrity who brings food to hungry and tired strikers to show his solidarity with the demands of the WGA.
Quinta Brunson
The creator of one of the best television shows of the recent Abbott Elementary, Quinta Brunson, was walking the picket lines in the early days as well. Abbott Elementary is one of the many shows that were affected by the writer's strike because the writers were set to start writing season three of the show around when the strike started.
Though she is one of the many head writers that are not currently working, she has been the one of the louder voices in the strike, telling the writers to “remember what we are working towards” and “stay[ing] strong.” According to The Wrap’s Loree Seitz, Brunson talked about the WGA’s goal of better pay because “people need to live, people need sustenance, they need to be able to pay their rent, to pay for food”. Quinta Brunson is an immensely talented and funny actress and writer that has been an incredibly vocal supporter of the WGA.
Nathan Fillion
Probably the internet's favorite actor due to his unparalleled performance as Captain Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds in the cult classic show Firefly, which would later become the movie Serenity. Nathan Fillion is the star of two very successful ABC dramas, Castle and The Rookie, he has made an impressive career in cameos and voice acting. Playing Green Lantern in several of the DC animated movies over the years and was the voice in many acclaimed video games such as the Destiny and Halo franchises, as well as his recent appearance in James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Fillion is known for being a huge nerd.
The SAG-AFTRA Twitter account tweeted out a video of Fillion marching at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles saying, “Hi, I’m Nathan Fillion from SAG union here in support of the WGA. You should be, too.” They caption the video with “#sagaftramember @NathanFillion joined the #WGAstrike picket line at Paramount Studios today! #WGAstrong #solidarity #1u.” Posted back on May 9, Nathan Fillion was an early SAG member that was in full support of the WGA strike.
Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
The hosts of the Las Culturistas podcast, comedians Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang have been ardent supporters of the WGA strike from the beginning. Both of them were the stars of the very cute romantic comedy that was a spin on Pride and Prejudice, Fire Island premiered on Hulu last year about a group of gay best friends who travel to Fire Island every summer to celebrate Pride. Their plans suddenly go awry when Bowen’s character meets a guy who he falls in love with.
Rogers is known for playing Darcy Leeds on Showtime’s I Love That for You, and Yang was a writer for SNL and is now a current cast member. Yang talked with The Hollywood Reporter saying, that he was “‘demoralized’ after seeing a WGA document noting that the AMPTP didn’t even counter several union proposals for a new contract.” Yang then went on to say, “The fact that most of the points were just outright rejected is really devastating and concerning.” These two podcast hosts have been incredibly supportive of unions being that they are both members of SAG-AFTRA and the WGA in order to get fair pay for everyone.
John Mulaney
Another comedian who was a writer for SNL for many years, John Mulaney, has written for SNL since 2008. Known mostly for his standup comedy specials, Mulaney has written and starred in many of his own comedies, his best being Oh, Hello on Broadway in which he plays George St. Geegland alongside Nick Kroll who plays Gil Faizon. These characters are two deranged septuagenarians who chronicle their sad yet hilarious lives in the form of a play.
George and Gil are characters that they have done together for a long time, originating on Nick Kroll’s Kroll Show and had a long run on Broadway before taping the special. Mulaney showed his support for the WGA by putting out a statement saying, “I’m a writer first and foremost. I stand with my guild - the @WGAWest and @WGAEast during this strike. A great deal of money is made off of their work, and they deserve to see some of it.” Though John Mulaney has run into a bit of controversy recently, he is still doing what is right and showing solidarity for the WGA.
Timothy Simons
Timothy Simons is a hilarious comedic actor who has given many great comedy performances over the years. His most iconic being his character Jonah Ryan in the extremely successful Veep, a show that is way more prescient than anyone could have ever imagined. Simons as Jonah Ryan is one of the most stellar comedic performances in the history of television because Ryan is just an emotional punching bag for the other characters and yet it never shakes his confidence. Jonah Ryan is a gross creep with zero social ability which couldn’t be less like Simons, and yet he plays him so skillfully.
He marched for the WGA outside of Netflix back in May and told Deadline reporters that he is striking because he’s “never said a funny thing without a writer.” Showing that he understands that without the amazing writers of Veep,there wouldn’t have been any performance to give. Notably starred alongside Griffin Newman in Draft Day, Timothy Simons is a kind and hilarious actor that has been in support of the writers from the very beginning.
Zach Cherry
A spectacular comedic actor who has been on the rise as of late. Zach Cherry is the star alongside Adam Scott in the critically acclaimed show Severance, a psychological thriller about a group of people who agree to be a part of a program in which their work memories are separated from their nonwork memories. Praised for its performances as well as its cinematography, Severance has mainly been heralded for its writing more than anything.
Though Cherry is a terrific improv comedian, he understands the importance of writers as well as being paid a fair wage for the work that one performs. In addition to Severance, Cherry was in the first season of the popular Netflix show You, which has been one of the bigger offenders in the massive companies not paying their writers a fair wage. Zach Cherry has recently made the rounds as a podcast guest on shows such as Blank Check and Doughboys, he has been spotted with the great J.D. Amato who was the director and producer of the fantastic The Chris Gethard Show, walking the picket line in support of the WGA.
Bob Odenkirk
Emmy Winner Bob Odenkirk was spotted many times on the picket lines alongside fellow Emmy Winner Mandy Patinkin. Odenkirk is known for playing the lowlife lawyer Saul Goodman in the acclaimed series' Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, two of the best television shows ever made. He is also the star of the exemplary action movie Nobody, from the minds behind the John Wick franchise, he was a comedy writer and actor. Odenkirk wrote for the short-lived HBO sketch comedy show Mr. Show with his long-time comedy partner David Cross. Odenkirk very much understands the difficulties of being a writer, as well as an actor in the industry, as well as the importance of this strike.
He told Deadline, “It’s a shame that we have to do this, but writers need to be able to pay their bills and live a decent life when they’re writing this great material that we’re all getting to do and that’s providing such entertainment for everyone.” Bob Odenkirk and Mandy Patinkin were two of the first actors who immediately supported the WGA strike and are fully aware of the importance of writers in the entertainment industry.
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