You must have seen the lead actors of a mainstream film taking away prestigious awards for brilliant performances, but are they the only ones who work hard on camera? Do you not see a string of actors that seem familiar faces but their performances are not lauded on national television or award ceremonies- the 'extras'. In an unprecedented move, a new awards franchise is happily praising the least noticed and glamorous roles on set.

In 2020 Stanley PMI, a company that produces steel vacuum bottles and other food containers, launched 'The Stanleys', a set of awards for extras, actors who are hired to fake dialogue, execute scene-setting actions and otherwise keep the background looking lively and realistic. The Stanleys join the Union Background Actors awards in celebrating this population. The Stanleys announced two prizes for the hardworking extras who clock long hours - a lifetime achievement award and rising star award.

The winner of the first-ever lifetime achievement Stanley, actor Tommy Bechtold, 36, has appeared in over 15 movies, 30 TV shows, 50 commercials and hundreds of online sketches, working on titles including 'How I Met Your Mother', 'House', 'Medium' and 'CSI'. He won $5,000, a $10,000 donation to The Actors Fund, a full-page ad in The Hollywood Reporter, insulated Stanley products for long days on set and a golden Stanley mug-shaped statuette.

"As tongue-in-cheek as it might be, I think it's a cool thing to raise awareness," he says of his award. "If you're out here and if the thing you're contributing right now to the entertainment industry is showing up to be a background actor or an extra, I just hope that people remember that that's important and that matters."

Bechtold is over 6 feet tall, 250 pounds and looks young for his age, first began his background career while working as a production assistant on a film. The director asked him to say a few lines in the film, which offered Bechtold entry into the Screen Actors Guild. Later, when he moved out to Los Angeles to begin acting full-time, he followed the advice of acquaintances to sign up as a background actor at Central Casting. "When the actors are dormant, that's when the rest of the crew is alive and lighting the set and getting everything ready and, if you're paying attention, you can really learn a lot," he says.

During his subsequent career as an extra, "I carried a coffin on 'House', I had a burrito thrown at my face on a Disney show, I did a hot-dog-eating contest with Adam Sandler," he says. Bechtold learned skills of the trade such as mouthing "watermelon elephants" during scenes in which he needed to pretend to speak (viewers have a hard time lip-reading the phrase, he explains) and bringing a book to set, in case he needs to wait eight or nine hours and his background character wasn't needed that day. To make ends meet, Bechtold, who received a fee between $130 and $300 per day for his background work, worked additionally as a bartender, waiter, substitute teacher, flower-deliverer, Lyft driver, house painter, Fox assistant for Family Guy and American Dad, and construction worker.

After years of background work, Bechtold was cast as a principal on ABC comedy 'The Middle' for five seasons starting in 2013, appeared on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' a few times and just finished a series for Facebook Watch called 'Take It Outside'.