Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1531556
58 SAG-AFTRA SPECIAL ISSUE 2025 / sagaf tra.org JoBeth Williams SAG Awards Committee Chair Many years ago, when I did my first school play, I felt like I had come home. I had found my community. I think most actors feel that way. The beauty of the Screen Actors Guild Awards is that, in that room, we recognize our community and celebrate each other. Helen Mirren, in accepting her Life Achievement Award at the 28th SAG Awards, spoke about the public belief that all actors are vain: "That lazy and false assumption of vanity when, in my experience, which by now is considerable, the opposite is true. We love and admire each others' work. Together, we laugh, we weep, we worry, we change clothes, we throw up and we suffer diarrhea. Don't you? I mean, I do." Tom Hanks, at our very first awards show, loved the masks of comedy and drama on the statue because either is so difficult to do: "Both of them will make you lose sleep, question your motives, wonder why you're there, wonder why you're doing this in the first place. Things every actor experiences." Matthew McConaughey spoke of the "Magic Spot" at the 20th Awards: "We all know it — there's a magic place that we as actors can get or at least strive to get to, which is, of course, the place that we all hope to find in each role." I love the speeches my fellow actors give because so many of them speak of what we as actors privately go through. Daryl Anderson SAG Awards Committee Vice Chair There are speeches like Tom Hanks' that set the standard. There are charming moments of candid disclosure like Brie Larson's: "I feel like I was born questioning everything about reality, feeling lost and alone and always worried that I was deeply unlovable. And watching your movies … helped [make] me feel less alone and made me feel like that was a safe place for me to explore my creativity. So, thank you." And there are moments like Mahershala Ali's that show unexpected courage: "You know when we get caught up in the minutia, the details that make us all different … There's an opportunity to see the texture of that person, the characteristics that make them unique … "My mother is an ordained minister. I'm a Muslim. She didn't do backflips when I called her to tell her I converted 17 years ago. But I tell you now, we put things to the side, and … I'm able to see her. She's able to see me. We love each other. The love has grown, and that [other] stuff is minutia. It's not that important." Sometimes someone such as Glenn Close shares their insight about the magic of acting: "One of the most powerful PHOTOS: ROB L ATOUR/SHUT TERSTOCK; SAG-AFTRA ARCHIVES; JOHN SCIULLI/WIREIMAGE; SAG-AFTRA ARCHIVES; GREGG DEGUIRE/GET T Y IMAGES