With happy tears, Uzo Aduba took home the first trophy of the night, while the Netflix series also nabbed the award for best ensemble in a comedy series. "The day I got this job was the day I had stopped acting, and to be in a room with all of you amazing human beings, amazing talents, for what I respect and love so much is really, truly, the greatest honor," said Aduba.
After thanking the 49 actors who also appear in Whiplash — "Each of us is essential, completely crucial to the story," he said — best supporting actor in a drama winner J.K. Simmons thanked his wife and mother of their "above-average children," Michelle Schumacher, who is now writing, directing and producing, "which is awesome because that means more jobs for me, because I'm sleeping with the director!"
Though Mark Ruffalo won the award for best actor in a TV movie/miniseries for his role as Ned Weeks in HBO's The Normal Heart, he wasn't there to accept it. "Alright, Mr. Mark, it's a no-show!" Jared Leto said to fellow presenter Lupita Nyong'o before telling the auditorium that they're happy to accept the award on Ruffalo's behalf, "saw it in half and keep it forever. Thank you, Mark — and congratulations!"
“Since the dawn of motion pictures, filmmakers have used this art form not only as entertainment but as a mirror to reflect vital issues facing society. In movies and on television, groundbreaking performances from Chaplin to Poitier, from Hepburn to Streep, have informed and inspired," said SAG-AFTRA president Ken Howard before a montage celebrating free speech in TV and film. "They have awakened audiences to, and spoken out about, basic human concerns. Tonight, as we celebrate the outstanding acting from the past year, we also reflect on some landmark portrayals which depict important subjects that affect us all.”
When the Olive Kitteridge actress won the award for best actress in a TV movie/miniseries, Frances McDormand said, "This is really swell and everything, but I wish that we could all get some really cozy slippers, a box of See's Nuts & Chews, hang out and watch more of our work, because every little snippet that I see, I just want to see more and more. … I'm proclaiming if you haven't see Olive Kitteridge, you need to. You can stream it I don't know how, you can watch it on an intercontinental flight I've been told, you can get the DVDs on Feb. 9, give it to someone as a Valentine's Day present!"
"When I tell my daughter stories at night, … she always says, 'Mommy, can you put me in the story?' And you know it starts from the top up," said the best actress in a TV series, drama, winner. To much applause, Viola Davis then thanked the team behind ABC's How to Get Away With Murder "for thinking that a sexualized, messy, mysterious woman could be a 49-year-old dark-skinned African-American woman who looks like me."
When accepting her Life Achievement Award, presented by her daughter, Carrie Fisher, she recalled her hairstyle in Singin' in the Rain was "a big ugly bun at the back of [her] head," so she told Fisher, who'd just landed her memorable role as Princess Leia in Star Wars, " 'Be careful of any weird hairdos.' So luckily, George [Lucas] gave her two buns. Thank you, George!"
Andy Samberg and Rashida Jones creatively presented the award for best ensemble drama series, applauding actors who are not just "worth their salt," but also those worth "a crap," "a horse's teat," "a frog's green uterus" and "seven hundred lambskin jimmy hats."
When Downton Abbey won the award for best TV drama ensemble, Allen Leech scurried to the stage to join his fellow actors on the British period piece. "I want to thank the Downton Abbey cast for letting me come up with them because I'm actually sitting at a different table!" said Leech, who attended the SAG Awards with his Imitation Game castmates.
"I would like to dedicate this award — this wonderful, skinny man — to those people around the world living with ALS, to those who have lost their lives to this brutal disease," a visibly choked-up Redmayne said, after acknowledging the work of his fellow best actor nominees, as well as Selma's David Oyelowo, Mr. Turner's Timothy Spall and American Sniper's Bradley Cooper (twice!). He added of Stephen Hawking and Jane Wilde Hawking, "Thank you for reminding me of the overwhelming power of the will to love and the will to live every second of your life as fully and as passionately as possible."
Upon winning for her performance in Still Alice, Julianne Moore recalled when she was on As the World Turns and had to play both good and evil twin roles, but then discovered it was "super boring to act by myself. … What I really loved, what I really craved was being with another actor, and feeling that intimacy and that excitement and that thrill of getting to know somebody in that way. And that's what keeps me coming back to acting, again and again and again."
As the cast of Birdman took the stage to accept their award for best ensemble in a comedy film, Edward Norton first introduced lead Michael Keaton with the adage "age before beauty," and Naomi Watts nearly tripped on her dress while on her way to the microphone. Zach Galifianakis later poked fun at Julianne Moore's acceptance speech for best actress in a drama film, which kicked off with an anecdote about playing two characters on As the World Turns.