Hollywood’s ‘Blurry’ awards honour background actors as they battle AI and invisibility

Wearing an impeccable blue suit, Daniel Armella steps into the spotlight to receive an Oscar-shaped statuette. Except that instead of being covered in gold, this trophy for Hollywood’s best extras is made of plastic. It is a minor detail for Armella, a background actor in the crime comedy series High Potential, who is as excited to get the nod as a film star receiving an Academy Award. “Wow! This is my third nomination, I was kind of feeling like a Leonardo DiCaprio stand-in,” he says, referring to the Hollywood star’s long wait for his Oscar. Welcome to the 8th Annual Los Angeles Union Background Actors Awards, a ceremony held at the Broadwater Theatre in LA in parallel with Hollywood’s glitzy award season – but for those anonymous people who fill your screens every day. Without uttering a word, they portray the nurses bustling behind doctors in the hit series The Pitt, the agents guarding a crime scene in NCIS or, like Armella, work as “stand-ins” for stars. “We’re not just props that eat, we are people who are actually there and make the scene worthwhile,” says the event’s founder, Vincent Amaya. “We are needed.” Since 2018, he has been organising this gala for these often overlooked entertainment industry workers in Los Angeles. The winners are awarded a “Blurry” – the informal nickname for the awards given to these performers, who often ply their craft in the background. The evening on February 15 follows the format of Hollywood’s higher-profile ceremonies, though with less glam. Sequinned dresses mix with simple jeans, and tuxedos are sometimes worn with work boots. A dozen awards are presented, including best first responder look and the top category: best background actor ensemble. This year, that award went to High Potential, a show starring Kaitlin Olson as a high-IQ single mother who helps the Los Angeles Police Department solve crimes. The jury is made up of about 40 members, each with an average of 20 years of experience. “Background actors are like ninjas, and only ninjas can determine who else is a good ninja,” says Amaya. Amaya, who is used to playing small roles, wants greater recognition for extras, to match the awards now given to others who were once in the background, such as stunt performers and casting directors. And he has thoughts about the term “extra”. “Calling us extras makes it sound like we’re additional, or we’re not needed,” he says. “But we are needed and our profession should be recognised.” Specifically, he wants a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame to collectively honour all background actors, as many prefer to be called. Kyle Humphrey, who works on High Potential, says the Blurries are “a baby step towards that”. Humphrey points out the hard work that goes into the job. “The hours are incredibly long. You need to have stamina and be ready to sometimes shoot outside in the freezing cold or in the rain,” she says, after a 14-hour day of filming. “Background actors work just as hard as all of the main actors do,” says Humphrey, who occasionally doubles for Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts. Like many in the room, she knows she is one of the lucky ones who is still working. Between the pandemic, the 2023 strikes that reinforced a trend for studios to relocate production, and last year’s wildfires, the industry in Los Angeles has gone through some dark years. The actors’ strike notched an agreement that protects unionised background workers from the unauthorised replication of their image by AI. But they know that many producers dream of replacing them with the technology. The appearance in the autumn of Tilly Norwood, an “actress” created entirely by AI, has reinforced these fears. “This is coming like a tsunami and we are the first people on the battle line,” says Sherry Brown, a background actor. Awarded for her role as a stand-in in the sitcom Leanne, she has received offers for films that would pay more, on the condition that she agrees to have her body scanned to train an AI. “I said no, but when you do that, you don’t get the job,” she says. “And it only takes a few people who say ‘yes’ to bury us.”

Hollywood’s ‘Blurry’ awards honour background actors as they battle AI and invisibility

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Long overlooked, film extras enjoy their moment at the 8th Annual Los Angeles Union Background Actors Awards

Long overlooked, film extras enjoy their moment at the 8th Annual Los Angeles Union Background Actors Awards