‘Genius’ Catherine O’Hara honoured with posthumous award for The Studio

Catherine O’Hara was remembered as “generous and kind and gracious” and a “genius” as she won a posthumous award at the Actor Awards.

The Schitt’s Creek and Home Alone star won the outstanding performance by a female actor in a comedy series prize for her role in the Apple TV+ hit The Studio.

O’Hara died on January 30 at the age of 71 from a pulmonary embolism, following a cancer diagnosis.

The award was collected by her co-star Seth Rogen, who is also a co-creator of the show, who said: “I was asked to assume the sad honour of accepting this award on behalf of O’Hara.

“I know she would have been honoured to receive this award from her fellow performers, who she respected so much.

“I’ve been reflecting on the time I was fortunate enough to spend with her and working with her and something I’ve been marvelling at is her ability to be generous and kind and gracious, while never minimising her own talent and her own ability to contribute to the work we were doing.

“She knew she could destroy and she wanted to destroy every day.”

Rogen said the night before O’Hara was filming, she would send an email to him and his co-creator Evan Goldberg, which contained “a completely rewritten version of the scene she was in, it made not just her character better, but her scene better and the show better”.

“It showed you can be a genius and be kind and one does not have to come at the expense of the other,” he continued.

He urged people to show O’Hara’s work to those who have not seen it and “tell the people that’s Catherine O’Hara and we were lucky to live in a world where she so generously shared her talents with us”.

The Studio also won the ensemble in a comedy series award while Rogen was named best male actor in a comedy series, defeating his co-star Ike Barinholtz, who was nominated in the same category.

The Actor Awards, formerly known as the Screen Actors Guild Awards, are voted for by members of the SAG-AFTRA union and recognise outstanding performances in film and primetime television.