PHYLLIS LOGAN: Thank you so much. To Screen Actors Guild, SAG/AFTRA, for this, the best bad boy-slash-bad girl award ever. Thank you. And in the spirit of ensemble…
LAURA CARMICHAEL: Oh, thank you. I just wanted to say, on behalf of all of us, a big thank you to the woman who put this ensemble cast together, our amazing casting director, Jill Trevellick. You changed our lives, thank you so, so much. [applause] Thank you to our crew.
ALLEN LEECH: I want to thank the “Downton Abbey” cast for letting me to come up with them, because I’m actually sitting on a different table. So, thank you. [laughter]
SOPHIE McSHERA: Yeah, he didn’t choose to sit with us. And we want to thank our amazing crew, they’re incredible - so those, too.
UZO ADUBA: Thank you so much. Thank you so much to the Screen Actors Guild. Thank you so much. We want to say a big massive, massive thank you to Jenji Kohan, without whom this is not at all possible. We want to say a massive thank you also to Netflix, Lionsgate, to the family there. We want to thank you everyone who’s tuned into our show, who have watched our show and supported it in such a brilliant way. We are incredibly grateful for this tremendous honor.
Transcript of VIOLA DAVIS
How to Get Away With Murder
VIOLA DAVIS: All right, when I tell my daughter stories at night, inevitably a few things happen. Number one, I use my imagination. I always start with life and then I build from there. And then the other thing that happens is she always says, “Mommy, can you put me in the story?”
And you know, it starts from the top up. So, I’d like to thank Paul Lee, Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers, Bill D’Elia, and Peter Nowalk, for thinking that a sexualized, messy, mysterious woman could be a 49-year-old dark-skinned, African-American woman that looks like me. [applause]
Thank you to the Screen Actors Guild. Thank you to Estelle and Lisa Costello, and Michael Adler, CAA, for having my back. And thank you to all the people who love me exactly how God made me. And that’s my beautiful husband, Julius, my four-year-old daughter at home, Genesis, and my mother, May Alice Davis. Thank you so much. [applause]
WILLIAM H. MACY: I have written so many great acceptance speeches that I never got to give. [laughter] But, not tonight. [laughter] Okay… to my fellow nominees… nah, forget it, you lost. [laughter]
John Wells, you were so good at so many things, it’s become annoying. Thank you, Showtime, you’re bodacious, keep on keeping on. To this cast – I don’t know why you’re all not nominated, maybe next year. To the crew, Kevin McKnight and his merry band, they shoot nine pages a day and don’t blink. It’s like watching a middle aged ballet. [laughter]
And our writers, you need therapy, but you’re very funny. If you’ll indulge me for a second…Georgia, Sophia, look what your dad did. And finally, Flicka, I love going to bed with you, too. [applause] Thank you, I’m proud to be an actor. [applause]
UZO ADUBA: Oh, my God! [laughs] I really truly do not know what I want to say. I just – I want to say thank you so much to the Screen Actors Guild for this incredible honor. I want to thank Jenji Kohan for writing a show like this and putting something like this on television, not just for myself, but for our incredible team of actors, to be seen in such a beautiful way.
I want to thank Netflix and Lionsgate – oh my gosh – specifically Ted Sarandos, Cindy Holland, Nina, Lisa, Trim, Neri, Kevin, Sandra. I want to say a huge massive thank to our cast, without whom… [cheers] without whom this is not possible. I love you guys so desperately, so much. This is not done without you, at all, any step of the way.
I want to thank my friends. I want to thank my family, and finally, I just really, really, really truly want to say that 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. Thank you so very much. God bless you all. [applause]
JARED LETO: All right, Mr. Mark. It’s a no show. Mark Ruffalo couldn’t be here this evening, so Lupita and I are quite happy to take this award on his behalf. Saw it in half and keep it forever. Thank you, Mark, and congratulations.
FRANCES McDORMAND: Okay, okay now. [laughter] I love what I do. Thank you for inviting myself and Mr. Richard Jenkins to the party. We love what we do, we’re proud of it, and we love “Olive Kitteridge.” I wish… [applause]… this is really swell and everything, but I wish that we could all get some really cozy slippers, a box of See’s nuts and chews, [laughter] hang out and watch more of our work. Because every [laughter] little snippet that I see, I just want to see more and more.
This is a celebration, right? We’re celebrating. We’re also – it’s a proclamation. I’m proclaiming if you haven’t seen “Olive Kitteridge,” you need to. [laughter] [applause] 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 February 9th, give it to someone as a Valentine’s Day present.[laughter] And I’m doing a show down at the Redcat with the Wooster Group called “Early Shaker Spirituals.” Come see. [applause] Thank you. [applause]