THE HELP (DREAMWORKS PICTURES/ TOUCHSTONE PICTURES)
VIOLA DAVIS: You know, we arrived on the set in July in 2010, with such a heavy load on our shoulder. Such great expectations were already there for this book that was so beloved. And it’s been such a labor of love. And they say that the ensemble is just a group effort, just brought together to create a singular effect. And all these actors on the stage gave up their ego and were able to just work. And it’s been such a joy to just be a part of this cast.
And me and Octavia, we have merged into “Aibileen” and “Minny,” by the way. [laughter] And I just want to say that the stain of racism and sexism is not just for people of color or women; it’s all of our burden, all of us. [applause]
And we absolutely – I don’t care how ordinary you may feel – we all of us can inspire change, every single one of us. Thank you. [applause]
JEAN DUJARDIN/ George- “THE ARTIST” (The Weinstein Company)
JEAN DUJARDIN: Oy…oh my god my god my god my god my god my god my god my god my god! Thank you.
Okay, it’s too much. I was a very bad student. I didn’t listen in class. I was always dreaming. My teachers called me “Jean de la lune” – “Jean of the moon.” And I realize now that I never stopped dreaming. Thank you very much.
Thank you for this dream. Thank you for – thank you to the Screen Actors Guild. It’s an honor. Thank you to the Harvey Weinstein Company. Thank you to the courageous Thomas Langmann. Thank you, Berenice Bejo, my partner. Thank you, James Cromwell. I love you. Penelope,”Niecy.” And thank you, Michel, for giving me this incredible gift of “George Valentine.”
VIOLA DAVIS/ Aibileen Clark- “THE HELP” (DreamWorks Pictures/ Touchstone Pictures)
VIOLA DAVIS: I was eight years old when I decided to be an actor. And I am just so privileged to be gazing on the beautiful face of the woman who inspired me that beautiful day, and that’s Cicely Tyson. [applause] And when I woke up and realized how difficult it was to be an actor, and how the rejection was so high, then another beautiful face graced the screen when I was in college, and that was Meryl, who just… [applause]…always inspires me. But there’s so many people involved in “The Help,” in lieu of mentioning all them, I just have to say that, what is there but a dream. You can’t trade in your dream for another dream.
I am so proud to be an actor, and I thank the Screen Actors Guild for this award. And I have a special, special note to the kids in Central Falls, Rhode Island, in Segue Institute of Learning in Central Falls, Rhode Island: to dream big and dream fierce. Thank you very much. [applause]
Outstanding Performance by a
Female Actor in a Leading Role
Cast of Meryl Streep
The Iron Lady
Transcript of Meryl Streep
The Iron Lady
Outstanding Performance by a
Female Actor in a Leading Role
Cast of Tilda Swinton
We Need To Talk About Kevin
Transcript of Tilda Swinton
We Need To Talk About Kevin
Outstanding Performance by a
Female Actor in a Leading Role
Cast of Michelle Williams
My Week With Marilyn
Transcript of Michelle Williams
My Week With Marilyn
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER/ Hal- “BEGINNERS” (Focus Features)
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER: I just can’t tell you what fun I have had being a member of the world’s second oldest profession. [laughter] I mean, actors are gregarious and wacky – are they not - and I love them dearly. But when they honor you, it’s like being lit by the Holy Grail. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Of course, my admiration and respect goes out to my fellow nominees. I’m so flattered to be on the same bill. And I want to thank my screen partner, Ewan McGregor, who makes acting look so impossibly easy! [applause]
And Michael Mills who wrote such a warm and human story, and the rest of the [chuckles] Goran Visnjic and the dog called Cosmo, and the two girls who produced the movie: Leslie Erdang and Miranda de Pencier]. And my little band of agents provocateurs: Lou and Berta Pitt, Carter Cohen, Pippa Markham and Perry Zimel, who have managed to successfully keep me off the streets. And to focus for being so extraordinarily loyal and supportive and generous, my daughter Amanda, another wacky actor—[laughter]—of whom I am so proud. And lastly, my long-suffering wife Elaine who 43 years ago came to my rescue and saved my life. Thank you. [applause] Thank you.
OCTAVIA SPENCER/ Minny Jackson- “THE HELP” (DreamWorks Pictures/ Touchstone Pictures)
OCTAVIA SPENCER: Oh wow, I need to work out a little more. That guy’s heavy. Oh my God, this means to much to me coming from you ,SAG, you have no idea. Thank you so much. [applause] And thank you for putting me in a category with so many beautiful women that I know and love. So, thank you.
Bu,t I have to say that it was really a privilege to work on a film that gave a voice to so many women who made it possible for me to be standing here tonight. [applause]
These women represented our mothers, our grandmothers, and it was their courage and them facing the challenges that they faced every day, and living their life, and dignity and grace. And I thank you. By honoring me, you honor them.
I also want to thank an unsung hero of “The Help”: Medgar Evers and his family. [applause] And finally, I want to thank all the people out there to went to support this movie, and after watching it, felt something. You felt compelled to make a change in your lives, so I’m going to dedicate this… to the downtrodden, the underserved, the underprivileged, overtaxed, whether emotionally, physically or financially. And thank you so much. Oh my God!! This is great! [applause]
STEVE BUSCEMI: [lifts four children in the air] That’s it, I got nothing. Martin Scorsese! [laughter] Thank you. [laughs] We are so honored, we love doing the show. Terry Winter, thank you so much for giving us all these incredible parts to play. Meredith Tucker, our wonderful casting director, everybody at HBO, Richard Plepler, Michael Lombardo, Sue Naegle, all of our representation. We want to thank all our agents and our managers, I’m sure. Give me their names, I got time. I got eight seconds. [laughter]
Thank you. This is such an honor to be standing in front of all you wonderful actors. Screen Actors Guild, thank you so much on behalf of all of us. Thank you. [applause] And Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson! [applause]
MODERN FAMILY (ABC)
AUBREY ANDERSON-EMMONS/ Lily
JULIE BOWEN/ Claire
TY BURRELL/ Phil
JESSE TYLER FERGUSON/ Mitchell
NOLAN GOULD/ Luke
SARAH HYLAND/ Haley
ED O'NEILL/ Jay
RICO RODRIGUEZ/ Manny
ERIC STONESTREET/ Cameron
SOFIA VERGARA/ Gloria
ARIEL WINTER/ Alex
NOLAN GOULD: I think it was the late, great W.C.Fields who said, “Never work with kids or animals.” Well, he can kiss my— [cast members cover Nolan’s mouth and pull him away from microphone] [laughter]
RICO RODRIGUEZ: On behalf of the entire cast and crew, the writers and the producers, and all the great guest cast we had on our show this year, we just want to thank you for letting us all be a part of all your families.
NOLAN GOULD: Animals? Really? Do I get a beef treat for all this? Nooo.
ARIEL WINTER: Okay, okay. We honestly have the greatest jobs any actor could ever ask for. The opportunity that we get to make people laugh each week is, you know, we take that very seriously. And thank you to Jeff Greenberg and his casting associate Allen Hooper, our amazing casting directors who brought us to Chris and Steve three years ago.
GOULD: And also… I’m good, guys. [laughter] Thank you to the unions. See? For making sure we’re properly fed, have all our shots, cleaned, and are put in our pens each night by sundown. [laughter]
WINTER: Okay, okay.
RODRIGUEZ: Thank you SAG memberships for voting for us. We really appreciate it. Thank you.
STEVE BUSCEMI/ Enoch “Nucky” Thompson- “BOARDWALK EMPIRE” (HBO)
STEVE BUSCEMI: Wait, thank you for checking my wine, Tina. But I have to thank our executive producer, Martin Scorsese. You can drink… [laughter] [applause] And – oh God – to my fellow nominees, congratulations. The Screen Actors Guild, this is really an honor to be amongst everyone in this room tonight. Thank you so much to HBO for supporting us. Terry Winter, I will thank you [applause] till my dying day. But please don’t kill me, I don’t want to die prematurely.
Tim Van Patten, Eugene Kelly, all the writers, directors and producers, our crew, Meredith Tucker, our casting director, my fellow actors who are all here, except for some. Kelly Macdonald, Shea Whigham, Anthony Laciura, Michael Kenneth Williams and everyone here. And also our kids are here. Thank you all for being here. Josie and Lucy Gallina, Rory and Declan McTighe and Brady and Connor Noon, wonderful actors.
Also to the late, great Tom Aldridge who played our dad, we miss you. [applause] And to our dearly departed this season, Robert Clohessy, William Hill, Dabney Coleman, Aleksa Palladino, and Michael Pitt, we love you. And to all the Michael Pitt fans out there – I know, I’m sorry, please stop yelling at me on the street. [laughter]
Thank you so much. And to my wife, Jill, thank you. Thank you. [applause]
JESSICA LANGE: Well, this is…this is such a pleasure coming from the actors. It means the world to me, so I thank you. Thank you to F/X and all the crazy, wild, imaginative people who put this thing together. It was a real leap of faith for me to jump into it, but it’s been a wonderful ride. It’s great to play such a big character with so much to do.
And I want to thank specifically the writers. I want to thank the directors. I would love to thank Ryan Murphy for his special attention to this character. And mostly I want to thank the other actors. Sometimes, you know, you go to work and it’s…it’s thrilling, and that’s what makes us continue to do it. So, I thank you for your generosity. I thank you for making my work better and…to be an actor means everything to me. So, thank you so much.
ALEC BALDWIN: Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!! Oh my God!!! Hey, Kristen. Oh my God! [laughter] I just want to say, the only thing this means to me is that obviously you people love Tina’s writing and you love Robert Carlock’s writing. I want to have a big round of applause because everybody… [applause] in television – it is not going to work unless you have great writing. I mean, no offense to everybody else here, but we have the greatest writing. We have the greatest writers. We have Tina and Robert Carlock and John Riggi and Hubbard and Burditt and all these people, and Kay and Tracey, too many to name.
And it’s been a real pleasure, it’s been a real honor, and I just want to say, this is so amazing to me to have this happen so many times in a row. I’m so happy, I’m so touched. And this year I was asked to be ambassador—I’ll put in a plug for the SAG Foundation – I was asked to be ambassador – hey, Brad – of the SAG Foundation. [applause] Which does a lot of outside work, chief among which is their literacy program, Book Pals. Why don’t you check that out online, Book Pals, and do what you can do to help the SAG Foundation?
Thank you all very much, it’s a great pleasure. Thank you.
BETTY WHITE/ Elka Ostrovsky- “HOT IN CLEVELAND” (TV Land)
BETTY WHITE: Oh my dears, my dears, my… I don’t think they can read. [laughter] I think they made a terrible mistake. You can’t name me without naming those other wonderful women on “Hot in Cleveland.” This nomination, I was thrilled, of course, but the nomination belongs to four of us. And, please, please, know that I’m dealing them right in with this. I’m not gonna let them keep this, [laughter] but I’ll let them see it. [laughter] Oh, oh I remember you, sweetheart. [laughter] Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
To the Screen Actors Guild and particularly to Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick and all the wonderful people on “Hot in Cleveland.” Thank you. [applause]
