HOLLYWOOD'S finest TV and movie stars have started walking the red carpet for this year's Screen Actors Guild Awards.

La La Land may have tied an Oscar record with 14 nominations, set a Golden Globes record with seven wins and won the top prize at the Producers Guild Awards, but it won't be competing for the top Screen Actors Guild award.

The SAG Awards often serve as an Academy Awards warm-up.

That will be true in the individual acting categories where awards-season favourites like Viola Davis, Casey Affleck and Emma Stone hope to cement their frontrunner status.

But this year's biggest frontrunner, La La Land, isn't nominated for the Screen Actors' ensemble award. Nominated instead are the casts for Moonlight, Manchester by the Sea, Hidden Figures and Captain Fantastic.

Lily Tomlin will be the night's lifetime achievement honoree, an award to be presented by Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton. La La Land did earn nods for its leads, Ryan Gosling and Stone. But if Damien Chazelle's musical is to go on to win best picture, it will be the just the second film to do so without a SAG ensemble nod in the category's history. Only Mel Gibson's Braveheart managed it in 1996.

Actors, the largest group in the motion picture academy, hold considerable sway. SAG, though, is much larger, with about 160,000 members, compared to about 1,200 actors in the academy.

On the television side, competing for best ensemble in a drama is The Crown, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Stranger Things and Westworld. Comedy series ensemble nominees are The Big Bang Theory, Black-ish, Modern Family, Orange Is the New Black and Veep.

See the stars arriving for the awards below:

GoT star rocks up in a black sequined pant suit

Gwendoline Christie, from Game of Thrones, and the face behind Captain Phasma in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, arrived in an interesting outfit ... to say the least.

Sophia Bush is pretty in pink

The star of Chicago PD has arrived in a strapless hot pink gown.

OITNB star flashes the flesh

Jessica Pimentel, who portrays Maria Ruiz in Orange Is the New Black, went with a thigh-high split in a barely-there dress on this year's red carpet.

Ariel Winter shines in gold at the SAGs

The Modern Family star wore a long, busty, gold gown to this year's event.

Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery in stripes

The Brits are becoming an increasing threat to Hollywood's stellar acts at these awards. Here, Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery chose to go all out in stripes.

Young star set to make history

She's just 12, but Millie Bobby Brown could make history as the youngest award winner in SAG history. The Stranger Thingsbreakout star faces stiff competition in the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series category with Winona Ryder, Claire Foy (The Crown), Thandie Newton (Westworld) and Robin Wright (House of Cards).