BERRY EXCITED! 'MONSTER'S BALL' STAR GRABS OSCAR MOMENTUM.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer

Halle Berry and Russell Crowe became Oscar front-runners Sunday at the eighth annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. The pair, who took home the best actress and best actor statuettes, respectively, also have a chance to make history.

Berry, who played the widow of an executed man in ``Monster's Ball,'' could be the first African-American ever to win a best actress Oscar, while Crowe, who played schizophrenic math genius John Nash in ``A Beautiful Mind,'' could be the first actor since Tom Hanks to win back-to-back Academy Awards.

``There is no reason in the world for me to stress about a thing,'' said a teary Berry backstage. ``So the question is how long will it be before I stop spinning out of control. ... I don't really care about what happens at the Oscars.'' Berry won over Golden Globe honoree and early front-runner Sissy Spacek of ``In the Bedroom.'

``Gosford Park'' emerged as a surprise winner. Director Robert Altman's whodunit comedy that satirizes the British class system took home the motion picture ensemble award, while Helen Mirren won for best supporting actress. Last year, ``Traffic'' won, although ``Gladiator'' took home best picture at the Oscars.

Rather than sealing the certainty of the outcome of the Academy Awards - to be held in two weeks at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood - the SAG Awards, aired on TNT from the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center, appear to have made the contest even closer. ``Moulin Rouge,'' which was shut out Sunday, won the Producers Guild award last week, and on Saturday night ``Beautiful Mind'' director Ron Howard won the Directors Guild award. Of the SAG film winners, only Crowe was widely considered the sure thing.

``We should all be very proud of our place in society,'' Crowe said, accepting his first SAG Award in six nominations. ``We release burdens, we galvanize emotions, we make people laugh, we make people talk over breakfast. This is a great job.''

Backstage, Altman said the only advice he gave to his winning 47 actors in making ``Gosford Park'' was: ``I told them if they all remembered their lines they'd be OK.''

On stage, Mirren noted that ``in medieval Britain, actors were called rogues and vagabonds, and we are actually rogues and vagabonds - no matter what we look like tonight - under the skin. ... I'm incredibly proud to have been amongst those great actors.''

Sir Ian McKellen opened the show, and a moment later he was back on the stage accepting the first award of the night, supporting actor in a film for playing Gandalf the wizard in ``Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.''

``Best award I ever got until now was British Actors Equity, who gave me an award for best supporting actor in the West End about 40 years ago,'' he said. ``There was money involved. They actually gave you a check. Come on, Screen Actors Guild. Next year, maybe?''

The television side of the ceremony was far more predictable, with NBC's Emmy-winning ``The West Wing'' sweeping the drama series categories and ``Will & Grace'' adding a pair for flamboyant co-stars Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally to its collection.

In addition to its ensemble award, ``The West Wing'' earned actor statuettes for Martin Sheen and Allison Janney.

``I think I'm the oldest guy in the room, with the possible exception of Robert Altman,'' Sheen said. ``So this is very, very gratifying to get to a place in my life and a place in my career when these kinds of things are happening.''

Janney, who won the Emmy in November, said, ``If the arts are a bridge to enlightenment and understanding, I can't think of a more important time to be an artist, and I can't think of a show I'm more proud to be on than 'The West Wing.'''

Although ``Will & Grace'' claimed the individual honors, the comedy ensemble prize went to HBO's ``Sex and the City,'' which also won the comedy series Emmy. Sarah Jessica Parker was stuck at home in New York with the flu, so Cynthia Nixon spoke for the group and paid tribute to the writers.

``This evening is all about actors and how great they are ... but every actor knows she's only as good as the stuff she gets to say, unless she's Marcel Marceau or Lassie,'' she said, adding that without their writing staff, ``we would just be standing in front of the camera barking.''

Ben Kingsley won the award for actor in a TV movie or miniseries as Otto Frank in ABC's ``Anne Frank,'' while Judy Davis picked up her third award for playing the title role in ABC's ``Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows.''

Edward Asner, a past president of the 98,000-member guild, was presented with the Life Achievement Award for his body of work and his humanitarian efforts.

``This thing almost makes one forget one's mortality,'' said Asner, best known for his curmudgeonly Lou Grant TV character. ``But as Robert Redford said in 'The Candidate' when he won the election, 'What do we do now?'''

Melissa Gilbert received an uncommonly warm reception as the guild's president. The ceremony came just one day after her position was confirmed in a repeat election after the first one's results were disputed.

Gilbert said the purpose of the evening was to recognize ``what we can achieve by working together.''

``That's our craft at its finest and that is our guild at its best,'' she said with a slight scolding tone in her voice.

CAPTION(S):

7 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Halle Berry clutches her SAG Award for best actress in a film for her performance in ``Monster's Ball.''

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

(2 -- color) A shaggy Russell Crowe shows off his first best actor SAG Award in six tries.

(3 -- 4 -- color) Martin Sheen, left, and Allison Janney, right, show off both personal and ensemble SAG Awards for their work on ``The West Wing.''

(5 -- 6) ``Will & Grace'' stars Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes both received SAG Awards for acting in a television comedy.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer

(7 -- color) Kim Catrall shows off her ``Sex in the City'' look when arriving at the eighth annual SAG awards on Sunday.

Box:

THE WINNERS