Hosted by actress Kristen Bell, the 31st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards took place on the evening of February 23 in Los Angeles. Intended specifically to award acting performances in television and film over the past year, the night featured not only awards and speeches, but also compilations of actors as odes to their origins and careers. Additionally, each film nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture was individually featured and celebrated with a trailer-like montage.
To open up the show, Bell sang a parody of “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” from her iconic movie “Frozen,” in which she originally played Anna. In this version of the song, she sang “Do you want to be an actor,” while footage of the night’s nominees in their earliest roles played on the screen in the background. Highlights included Selena Gomez as a child on “Barney & Friends” and Jodie Foster in a Coppertone sunscreen commercial.
Many of the television award recipients were expected: Colin Farrell and Jessica Gunning took home wins for Male and Female Actor, respectively, in a Television Movie or Limited Series. “Shōgun” continued its awards season dominance, with wins for Anna Sawai (Female Actor in a Drama Series), Hiroyuki Sanada (Male Actor in a Drama Series), and Ensemble in a Drama Series.
The comedy series winners, though, shook things up. While Jean Smart unsurprisingly received recognition for Female Actor in a Comedy Series, Martin Short received his first major win for Male Actor in a Comedy Series for “Only Murders in the Building,” beating out previous awards favorite Jeremy Allen White . Similarly, “Only Murders in the Building” unexpectedly beat out “The Bear” and “Hacks” for Outstanding Performance by a Comedy Ensemble. Selena Gomez, one of the show’s stars, seemed visibly shocked, commenting in her acceptance speech, “We never win!” As other lead performers Steve Martin and Martin Short were not in attendance, Gomez joked that they simply “don’t really care” and thanked them “for helping raising [her].”
Some unintentionally comedic moments also occurred as each nominated ensemble cast introduced their recognized films, struggling to read from a teleprompter. As Timothée Chalamet failed to read some of his lines on time while presenting “A Complete Unknown,” he commented that he “should’ve done a rehearsal.” The three leads of “Anora,” Mikey Madison, Yura Borisov and Mark Eydelshteyn arrived to introduce their film and ended up bursting into laughter over their mistakes. Eydelshteyn read his designated lines, then continued to read the cue, “Mikey,” which was only meant to signify Madison’s turn to speak, rather than something to be uttered out loud. Borisov then read the cue for “Playback” out loud. Laughter ensued from the stars onstage as well as the audience.
At 87 years old, Jane Fonda accepted the SAG Life Achievement Award in an empowering speech, powerfully calling for empathy in today’s political climate. She spoke for approximately eight minutes, and her entire speech struck a chord of seriousness and relevancy in an uncertain and rapidly changing American society. Seeing as television and film are some of the most significant methods of political communication, this speech was necessary and important, especially coming from one of the most iconic living performers.
Demi Moore (Lead Actress), Kieran Culkin (Supporting Actor), and Zoe Saldaña (Supporting Actress) all continued their dominance over major film acting awards, ahead of the Oscars next Sunday night.
And though Adrien Brody (Lead Actor Nominee) is predicted to win the Oscar, Gen Z favorite Timothée Chalamet managed to beat out Brody. In his acceptance speech, Chalamet declared that he aspires for greatness in his career, citing Daniel Day-Lewis, Marlon Brando, Viola Davis, Michael Jordan and Michael Phelps as some of his inspirations.
“Conclave” received the award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, raising questions about which film will take home the Oscar for Best Picture on Sunday. (Other major precursory awards have been split between many of the Best Picture nominees, including “Anora ” and “The Brutalist.”)
For television fans, Bell’s reunion with her co-stars from “The Good Place” (2016-2020), Ted Danson and William Jackson Harper, might’ve been a highlight. She joked about her “favorite” co-star then briefly recreated the viral three-way-kiss scene from 2024’s hit film “Challengers.” This “competition” became a recurring theme throughout the night, as Bell debated her favorite co-star. She ultimately decided at the end of the ceremony that it had been a sloth she met for an online video.
The 31st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards are currently available to stream on Netflix.
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Featured image via Netflix
