ELLEN POMPEO: We love this category more than you know. We’re honored to be in the company of all the fellow nominees, so inspiring. And I think because this category is ensemble, it’s worth mentioning the members of our cast that are not here.
Kate Walsh who plays Ellis – Kate Burton who plays Ellis Grey… yeah, I know, Kate Walsh is here, just behind me. Help me… Isaiah Washington… I’m drawing a blank, please help me… Loretta Devine, our wonderful, wonderful guest cast who is nice enough to come on every week and really contribute to the show. Diahann Carroll, Christina Ricci, all the wonderful people who come on and make this show what it is. It’s so much more than just us, and we appreciate everybody’s efforts.
STEVE CARELL: This is quite the honor having these people present this to us. [applause] I was craning my neck, “Oh my God! There she is! They’re there! Oh my God!” Let’s get serious for just one second. Webster’s defines the word “ensemble” as follows: “a complete costume of complementary clothing and accessories.” [laughter] And even though this is not the right definition, I think it applies to our cast. [laughter]
I’d like to – we’d like to thank Greg Daniels, our executive producer… [applause] for being the person who assembled the ensemble, and choosing people who get along, who work well together, who enjoy each other’s company, who are friends. Also Allison Jones who took part in that trip. [applause] It’s really a great honor and we will treasure this. Thank you. [applause]
Thank you so much. Thank you. This is phenomenal. It seems to be that this business, for actors anyway, is not so much about whether or not you do good work, it’s about whether or not you get the chance to do good work. And I am… [applause] Every day I am extremely grateful for the chance I’ve been given to play what is to me such a fascinating character, to do it here in America… I’m British, by the way. [laughter] Which accounts for why I’m so smooth. [laughter]
And what’s more, to do it at a time when American television drama, it seems to me, is absolutely at its zenith. It’s a phenomenal honor and a great chance, and I am – I know it will pass very quickly… it might even have passed while I’ve been standing here. [laughter] But it’s still amazing. My therapist made me promise that I wouldn’t thank anybody. [laughter] Something to do with ownership, I didn’t really understand it.
But I would nonetheless like to thank the people who gave me the chance. The Executive Producers of “House,” Paul Attanasio, Bryan Singer, Katie Jacobs and David Shore. And also the wonderful Nancy Perkins, Marcia Shulman and Gail Berman. And to them and to you, and to chance, thank you. Thank you very much. [applause]
Okay. Well, I’m sorry, Paula, I got your dress all wrinkled… First of all, it’s about those 10 cast members sitting over there, and the other one in rehab. I mean, y’all are just… [laughter] holding me together. I thank you so much, ‘cause we pull this thing off every week. I love you all for it.
Thank you, Shonda, for wanting me to do this role. Lord, bless your heart. And everything that you write for us, all those long things that you give me to say, do I have to keep saying all that stuff, those long paragraphs. Okay, thank you.
To… oh my goodness, my family here, Mikey, at home the girls. Thank you so much for going on this ride with me, for having an agent and a manager that have been with me 15 and 19 years, respectively. For holding on to me, thank you so much.
To – oh Lord – George Wolfe told me, “Look girl, you’re already talented or else you wouldn’t be in the room. So just go and do the work.” George said, “Just try to do the work every day.” And my friends, I feel you, so many wonderful friends I’m so lucky to have.
And last but not least, just to be able to take this thing home to my girls, in particular, and hold it in front of them and say, “Look, with this skin and this nose, and this height, and these arms,” you know, “I’m here!” Whoo! [applause/cheers]
Thank you Screen Actors Guild for taking me as I am. Thank you. Whoo!
Thank you, thank you to everyone in the Academy, this is a real honor. I’m really proud to be a member of this Union. This is a great Union that represents all of the actors that aren’t in this room tonight, who does great work on their behalf, [applause] who do great work on their behalf. And congratulations to all the other nominees.
I want to thank our writers, of course, no sitcom works without good writing, and Tina Fey, our cast, our crew. Especially Jonathan the focus puller, who at my age, misses the mark every now and then, [laughs] and shaves six or eight years off my close-ups, out there a silver cup. Thank you, Jonathan, very much. [laughter]
I want to thank the production people, Steve Davis, Rob Albertell, Jerry Kupfer. I want to thank NBC, Jerry Zucker, NBC Studios, Tifffany Nishimoto, and Summer Grindle, who worked with me. Matt Hiltzik, the people at CAA, Mike Rosenthal, Matt Delpiano, Lorne Michaels, my dear friend, because we all have to go to work for somebody every day, and I have a great boss in Lorne Michaels.
And I want to thank my mom. Mom, I love you. And I want to thank Nicole for all your love and all your kindness, and all your friendship. And thank you all very much. This is a real honor. Thank you. [applause]
I am completely out of things to say. I don’t have anything to say anymore. I think that what’s so special about being in this room is that I look out and I see faces that have inspired me, and moved me, my entire life, since I was just a wee little one. And being here, honored by these faces, is more than I can express.
And I think what’s amazing is that we share a common knowledge of struggle and of rejection, and now of success. And that I think only your fellow peers know how sweet the taste it is, because you know the other side of it.
And it’s really an incredible knowledge. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Have a wonderful night. [applause]
Outstanding Performance by a
Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Cast of Felicity Huffman
Desperate Housewives
Transcript of Felicity Huffman
Desperate Housewives
Outstanding Performance by a
Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Cast of Julia Louis-Dreyfus
The New Adventures of the Old Christine
Transcript of Julia Louis-Dreyfus
The New Adventures of the Old Christine
Into the lion’s den. As Helen said, it was you lot… that sort of taught me what it was – what one was supposed to do. In fact, I remember the very first time I went to New York and I asked the guy on Fifth Avenue the way to get to Madison Avenue. And he said, “What do I look like, an employee bureau?” I mean, “an information bureau?” [laughter] It was a joke.
And I thought, everybody in America wants to be a movie star, they all sound like movie stars. And here is a room full of movie stars giving me, who, whenever I start a job, feel like a plumber, [laughter] giving me an accolade, it is fantastic to be singled out among such… co-nominees: Mr. Duvall, who, the first time I heard word of Duvall was when I was going to play with Miss Glenn Close and he was a great friend of hers. And he said, “How can you trust a guy who sounds like that?” [laughter] And yet she did, and it worked, and I don’t know, we just do our… I’m just amazed by this.
Thank you very much. It’s a huge honor. I shall treasure it forever. [applause]
Outstanding Performance by a
Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Cast of William H. Macy
Nightmares & Dreamscapes
Transcript of William H. Macy
Nightmares & Dreamscapes
Oh Lord… Be still my beating heart. Be still. Thank you. Thank you very much Screen Actors Guild. What an incredible night for me personally. Thank you to Stephen Frears, the director. To Peter Morgan, the writer. Without those amazing words none of us can do what we do. And we all know that, us actors.
But, you know, when I did my costume fitting for “The Queen,” I walked in and I saw all those sensible shoes, and those tweed skirts, laid out in a row, and I cried. I thought, “I can’t play anyone who chooses to wear those clothes, I just can’t do it.” [laughter] But I learned to love the person who chooses to wear those clothes because I learned to love a person without vanity, but with a great sense of discipline that I understand. With a great sense of duty that I understand. And with a great deal of courage, and that I understand.
Thank you very much, this is a great night for me. Thank you. [applause]
