The Actor®. Credit Mark Hill
Official Name – The Actor®
Height – 16 inches
Weight – 12 pounds
Number Presented – 823
Designer – Jim Heimann and Jim Barnett
Manufacturer – American Fine Arts Foundry in Burbank
Facts
- Set on a block of black granite, The Actor® is the heaviest awards of the awards season. Not yet dressed, he holds the mask of comedy and tragedy contemplating which persona he will take when he steps in front of the camera.
- A team of 10 people are responsible for the handcrafting of each of the awards each year, a process that takes between 3 and 4 weeks to produce.
- Each awards is created through a process called ‘lost-wax’ which requires a highly detailed, ceramic mould to be filled with wax to create another mould in which the molten bronze is poured into. Due to the delicate process, The Actor® starts out life with no arms, they are attached at a later point to ensure that they do not break off.
- The award itself is created from bronze, but to achieve the distinctive green appearance, oxidation, which is a natural process, is sped up with the help of a blowtorch.
- To date, the Screen Actors Guild foundation has given out a total of 832 Actor statuettes. Each nearly identical and yet each an individual work of art.