Forget Lady Gaga. The real breakout star of “A Star Is Born,” Warner Bros’ romantic musical that’s poised to take awards season by storm, is D.J. “Shangela” Pierce.

However, many fans of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” the reality TV show that gave Shangela her big break, are wondering why she’s not nominated along with the rest of the cast at this year’s SAG Awards. As it turns out, the Screen Actors Guild has a rule that in order for an actor to receive a bid as part of the ensemble they must receive “single card billing.” Since only seven “A Star Is Born” cast members receive such billing — Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott, Dave Chappelle, Andrew Dice Clay, Rafi Gavron and Anthony Ramos — those are the film’s only SAG-eligible contenders.

A rep from SAG-AFTRA confirms to Gold Derby, “Our requirement for inclusion in a nominated Motion Picture Cast is that an actor receive single card billing … If the ‘A Star Is Born’ cast wins the category, D.J., and all other actors listed in the crawl, will receive a certificate after the show.”

In the blockbuster movie Shangela plays the lively emcee of the drag bar that Jack (Cooper) walks into one night when he first meets Ally (Gaga). Shangela initially appeared in Seasons 2, 3 and All Stars 3 of “RuPauls Drag Race” and recently reunited for the franchise’s fun “Holi-Slay” spectacular that aired December 9 on VH1.

TV fans may recognize Shangela from her guest stints on “2 Broke Girls,” “Glee,” “Bones,” “The Mentalist” and, of course, “The X-Files” in the Darin Morgan-penned episode “Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster.” She can also be seen in the Netflix series “Super Drags” and is currently on a gigantic 181-city tour around the globe through the end of this year.

Here’s the specific SAG Award rule that affects Shangela’s ensemble eligibility for “A Star Is Born”:

CAST ELIGIBILITY: “A Cast in a Motion Picture” includes all actors whose names appear in the cast credits of the final release print. Motion Picture Casts shall be represented by those actors with single card billing in the main titles, wherever those titles appear. In cases of special, unusual or non-billing or credit, eligibility shall be at the sole discretion of the Awards Committee. Members of the cast who are not single card billed but are credited in the cast crawl of the motion picture announced as the recipient of the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Theatrical Motion Picture shall each receive a certificate.

Be sure to make your predictions to influence our reality TV racetrack odds. You can keep changing your predictions until just before the next episode airs on VH1. You’ll compete to win a spot on our leaderboard and eternal bragging rights. See our contest rules and sound off with other fans in our reality TV forum. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.