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The Hollywood Actors Guild announced it would go on strike, the largest such action in Hollywood in 40 years.
The union wants the streaming giants to agree to a fairer division of profits and better working conditions.
The strike means that 160,000 artists will stop working at midnight.
Director Christopher Nolan said stars Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt left the premiere of his movie “Oppenheimer” as the strike began.
The Screen Actors Guild strike begins at midnight LA time (08:00 GMT). The strikers’ stand starts after an hour outside the Netflix headquarters in California, before moving on to Paramount, Warner Brothers and Disney.
The union is also demanding a guarantee that artificial intelligence and computer-generated faces and voices are not used to replace actors.
According to the strike order posted online by the union, the measure applies to actors, singers or dancers, as well as performers and puppeteers.
On Wednesday, the union, formally known as the Screen Actors Guild of Television and Radio Artists of America, announced that it was unable to reach an agreement with the major studios.
Its negotiating committee voted unanimously to recommend a strike. This means that the vast majority of film and television production in the United States will cease.
The union’s national executive director and chief negotiator, Duncan Crabtree Ireland, said union members will be on the picket line Friday morning.
He added that the strike “is the last resort.”
“The strike is certainly not the outcome we had hoped because the studios cannot function without the artists who bring our TV shows and films to life,” said the group representing the studios, the Film and Television Producers Alliance.
“The federation has unfortunately chosen a path that will lead to financial hardship for countless thousands of people who depend on the industry,” it added in its statement.
Fran Drescher, president of the Actors’ Union, said the strike comes at a “very defining moment” for actors working in the industry.
“What happens to us happens in all areas of the business, when employers put Wall Street and greed at the top of their priorities, and forget about the key stakeholders who make the machine work,” she said.
A separate strike by the Writers Guild of America to demand better wages and working conditions has been underway since May 2. Some writers turned to writing projects not covered by the contract between the union and the Film and Television Producers Alliance.
The “double strike” from both unions is the first since 1960, when actor and former US President Ronald Reagan headed the union. The last actors’ strike took place in 1980.
A third union, the Directors Guild of America, successfully negotiated in June and will not take part in the strike.
The onset of the strike means that the vast majority of American film and television productions will have to shut down, adding to the list of projects already closed or halted by the writers’ strike.
And for films already being made, stopping would mean that much of the work would become impossible. Even in cases where filming has already been completed, actors will not be available for reshoots and other essential elements of the filmmaking process.
TV series still being filmed will also have to be stopped due to the actors’ strike, although in some cases side agreements can be struck between actors and producers to allow work to continue.
Hollywood’s top stars will not be able to attend promotional ceremonies for new and upcoming films. Awards ceremonies, including the Emmy Awards and Comic-Con, may be rescheduled or reduced.
International events, such as the Toronto Festival and the Venice Film Festival, will continue, although Hollywood actors will not be able to attend as they do every year.
A number of major Hollywood stars expressed their support for the strike, including “Barbie” star Margot Robbie, Meryl Streep and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.