FROM WIRE REPORTS

"The Help" took home three Screen Actors Guild awards last weekend.

The movie, which came into the awards show with a leading four nominations, earned the best actress award for its star Viola Davisa supporting actress trophy for Octavia Spencer and the best cast prize, the Guild’s equivalent to the Oscar’s best-picture award. They both played maids who face discrimination in the film set in Mississippi during the 1960s.

The cast of “The Help” are shown on stage during the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards show at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Jan. 29. (ROBERT GAUTHIER/LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT)

Davis thanked her co-star Cicely Tyson, who inspired her as a child and was in the audience. Davis talked of dreaming big as a child when she wanted to become an actress. She encouraged others to do so, too.

"Dream big and dream fierce," she said.

Chosen by actors

Silent movie "The Artist’ claimed one trophy. Jean Dujardin was named best actor in a drama for his role as a fading screen star at the end of the talkies who is ultimately saved by love. Dujardin, who beat out George Clooney and Brad Pitt in the category, seemed genuinely surprised as he held his statue and thanked the Screen Actors Guild.

The awards are closely watched for their impact on Oscars because actors make up the biggest voting group at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which picks winners. The Academy Awards take place in Los Angeles on Feb. 26.