A cast of Hollywood hobbits and a ?Monster? killer played by Charlize Theron won top honors at the Screen Actors Guild awards on Sunday, but a fishy pirate portrayed by Johnny Depp stole the show in an upset best actor victory.

The award for best film actress solidified Theron?s position as a front-runner for an Oscar, the US film industry?s top honors to be given out on February 29. It also cemented the bid for the best movie Oscar from the hobbits of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. But Depp?s victory added an element of suspense to next week?s Oscars by giving him an award no one expected over favorites Bill Murray and Sean Penn.

The actors of Rings were named best cast, and last year?s winner in the same group, Chicago, earned the Oscar. The SAG awards often provide strong clues to potential Oscar winners because actors make up the largest branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which gives out the Oscars. It has some 1,300 members, of the 5,800 voters for the Academy Awards.

Onstage, Theron thanked ?my angel and my date tonight, my mom, who put me on a plane with a one-way ticket to Hollywood when I was 19 years old. Thank you for being so brave and for letting me go to make my dreams come true.?

Bob Tourtellotte