The 31st SAG Awards delivered a heartfelt Jane Fonda speech, Kristen Bell’s musical opening and a loose, funny Kieran Culkin acceptance. The ceremony took place on February 23, 2025, with Bell hosting and Netflix streaming it live globally. Here are the moments that landed—and the ones that may have felt less smooth—alongside the night’s major winners.
What were the best moments at the 2025 SAG Awards?
“Best” and “worst” are matters of taste, not an official ranking. For this recap, the strongest moments are the ones that connected the craft of acting to the people in the room, or found an easy comic rhythm. The weaker beats are better understood as moments that may have felt more staged or awkward to some viewers than as outright failures.
Jane Fonda made the night’s clearest statement
Julia Louis-Dreyfus presented Jane Fonda with the 60th SAG Life Achievement Award. Fonda’s speech was the ceremony’s most direct reflection on what acting can do: “What we, actors, create is empathy. Our job is to understand another human being so profoundly that we can touch their souls. And make no mistake, empathy is not weak or woke. By the way, woke just means you give a damn about other people.” The line about empathy gave the occasion a clear emotional center. Netflix Tudum reported the speech on February 24, 2025.
Kristen Bell’s opening made early roles part of the joke
Bell opened with a parody of “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” from Frozen, changing its premise to “Do you want to be an actor?” The musical bit showed early roles played by attendees, including Kieran Culkin in Home Alone, Jodie Foster in a Coppertone ad and Timothée Chalamet as an ICU patient. Its best idea was simple: before the awards and acclaim, performers had beginnings that could be funny in retrospect. TIME’s February 24 recap covered the opening and other memorable moments.
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Kieran Culkin’s acceptance speech felt spontaneous
After winning for A Real Pain, Culkin joked about the Actor statuette’s weight and the time limit, then made sure to thank writer-director Jesse Eisenberg. He said, “Thank you SAG-AFTRA for this very heavy award,” and, as the clock ran down, “That’s the allotted time, Adrien Brody.” AP also recorded his quip, “It is funny that the heaviest of all awards is given by actors.” The self-aware asides gave the speech a loose, human quality rather than the polished cadence of a prepared bit. The Associated Press recapped the wins and speeches on February 23.
The room acknowledged Los Angeles firefighters
The ceremony followed devastating Los Angeles wildfires. Bell gave a shout-out to firefighters seated at a table, a brief gesture that connected the televised event to the emergency response without turning the awards show into a news report. AP noted that the fires had led SAG-AFTRA to cancel its in-person nominations announcement and establish a relief fund for affected members.
Rank #2
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Which moments felt awkward or less successful?
There was no defining disaster, and the evidence does not support labeling a moment a universal “worst.” A few choices could nevertheless divide viewers. Bell’s opening was a constructed musical number, so its appeal depended on whether the audience enjoyed a deliberately theatrical setup and clips of performers’ early work. Some may have found the premise warm and self-deprecating; others may have preferred a more direct start.
A joke about COVID relied on old awards-show context
Jamie Lee Curtis introduced the limited-series male actor category by referring to Colin Farrell as “the man who gave me COVID at the Golden Globes.” Farrell replied, “Guilty as charged,” and joked that Brendan Gleeson had passed it to him. The exchange was teasing, not a report of a new illness. Its humor depended on recalling an earlier awards-season episode; without that context, it could land as an unexpectedly pointed introduction. TIME and AP both described the exchange.
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Rank #3
Not every scripted gag had the same spontaneity
Quinta Brunson joked, “We believe that men can be good actors, too,” before presenting an award with Andrew Scott. It was a quick, topical punchline; whether it felt sharp or too neatly scripted is a matter of comic taste. In contrast, Culkin’s fumbling with the clock and trophy gave his speech an improvised feel. That difference in texture—not a clear failure—is what separates the night’s most natural comedy from its more obviously prepared beats.
Who won at the 2025 SAG Awards?
The awards recognized performances from the 2024 eligibility year, January 1 through December 31. SAG-AFTRA members vote on the honors; the guild said final voting was open to more than 118,000 members in good standing and closed on February 21, 2025. That figure describes eligible final voters, not ballots actually cast. SAG-AFTRA’s official winners announcement lists the results.
Rank #4
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| Motion picture cast | Conclave |
| Leading actor in a motion picture | Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown |
| Leading actress in a motion picture | Demi Moore, The Substance |
| Supporting actor in a motion picture | Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain |
| Supporting actress in a motion picture | Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez |
| Drama series ensemble | Shōgun |
| Comedy series ensemble | Only Murders in the Building |
| Female actor in a drama series | Anna Sawai, Shōgun |
| Male actor in a drama series | Hiroyuki Sanada, Shōgun |
| Female actor in a comedy series | Jean Smart, Hacks |
| Male actor in a comedy series | Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building |
| Female actor in a limited series or television movie | Jessica Gunning, Baby Reindeer |
| Male actor in a limited series or television movie | Colin Farrell, The Penguin |
| Motion picture stunt ensemble | The Fall Guy |
| Television stunt ensemble | Shōgun |
| SAG Life Achievement Award | Jane Fonda |
Why did the results stand out?
AP described Conclave’s cast win and Chalamet’s leading actor win as surprises in an unpredictable awards season. That is a snapshot of expectations at the time, not a guarantee about how awards-season predictions or later races would turn out. The result that most clearly echoed the evening’s emphasis on acting as a shared craft was Shōgun’s drama ensemble victory, alongside its individual wins for Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada.
The ceremony aired live globally on Netflix, and SAG-AFTRA said at the time that it would remain available to stream for 28 days after the show. That replay window was announced in February 2025; it does not establish whether the ceremony is currently in Netflix’s catalog.
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