Seth Rogen emotionally honors Catherine O'Hara with posthumous Actor Award

Brendan Morrow and Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY Mon, March 2, 2026 at 2:16 AM UTC

0

Catherine O'Hara's former colleagues are paying tribute to the late star of "The Studio" at the Actor Awards.

During the awards ceremony in Los Angeles on March 1, Seth Rogen took the stage to honor O'Hara, who died on Jan. 30 from a pulmonary embolism, according to her death certificate, which said another contributing cause was rectal cancer. She was 71.

O'Hara posthumously won the Actor Award for best female actor in a comedy series for her work on "The Studio." In the Apple TV comedy that satirizes Hollywood, the "Home Alone" star played a fictional producer, who is a mentor to Seth Rogen's character.

"I was asked to assume the very sad honor of accepting this award on O'Hara's behalf," Rogen said on stage. "I know she would have been honored to receive this award from her fellow performers, who I know she respected so much. She was such a big fan of all of yours.

Catherine O'Hara attends Apple TV+'s Primetime Emmy Party in West Hollywood, California, on Sept. 14, 2025.

"I obviously have been reflecting on the time I was fortunate enough to spend with her and working with her," Rogen added. "And something that I've just been marveling at over the last few weeks was really her ability to be generous and kind and gracious while never, ever minimizing her own talents and her own ability to contribute to the work that we were doing. She knew she could destroy and she wanted to destroy every day on set."

Throughout Rogen's speech, the cameras cut to some of O'Hara's friends and co-stars including Sarah Paulson, Jenna Ortega and Rose Byrne, all of whom could be seen fighting back tears.

Rogen was visibly emotional as he recalled how most evenings before filming "The Studio," O'Hara would email him saying, " 'Hello, I hope you'll consider the following!' And then there would be a completely rewritten version of the scene that she was in. And literally 100% of the time, it made not just her character better, but it made the scene better and the entire show better as a whole. She really showed that you can be a genius and be kind, and one of those things does not have to come at the expense of the other in any way, shape, or form."

Advertisement

The actor and comedian concluded by encouraging people to share O'Hara's work with one another.

"If you have people in your lives that don't know her work ‒ if they're kids in your lives or just people who are out of touch or stupid or something ‒ just show them O'Hara dancing to Harry Belafonte in 'Beetlejuice,' " Rogen said. "Show them O'Hara hurting her knee in 'Best in Show' and doing that amazing thing where she hobbles around. Tell the people as they are laughing, 'That's Catherine O'Hara, and we were lucky that we got to live in a world where she so generally shared her talents with us.' "

For her role on "The Studio," O'Hara was also nominated at last year's Emmy Awards and January's Golden Globes. She did not attend the Golden Globes, which were held less than three weeks before her death.

"The Studio" was nominated for five Actor Awards this year, winning three including best performance by an ensemble in a comedy series. Earlier in the night, the freshman comedy also took home a best actor award for Rogen.

1 / 0See all the stunning celebrity looks from SAG Actor Awards red carpet

Hollywood's biggest celebrities donned their most striking looks for the Actor Awards on March 1 in Los Angeles. We've got all the night's standout fashions, starting with Kate Hudson.

Rogen previously paid tribute to O'Hara in an Instagram post in January, writing that it was a "true honour" getting to work with her on "The Studio." He added, "This is just devastating. We're all lucky we got to live in a world with her in it."

"The Studio" star Chase Sui Wonders also posted that O'Hara "radiated goodness and light," while Kathryn Hahn wrote that her costar on the show "inspired me at every single turn, as an artist and a human," and Ike Barinholtz said he's "so profoundly sad she's somewhere else now" but "so incredibly grateful I got to spend the time I did with her."

Contributing: Anthony Robledo and KiMi Robinson

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Catherine O'Hara wins posthumous Actor Award, honored by Seth Rogen

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”