Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh weren’t the only ones shedding tears of joy and pride on stage at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Fellow winner Brendan Fraser also became visibly emotional after winning Best Male Actor in a Leading Role at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The Hollywood star was recognised for his role in The Whale, a film from director Darren Aronfsky about a morbidly obese English teacher trying to reconnect with his daughter.
During his acceptance speech, he spoke of how much the recognition means to him and also shared inspirational words for other struggling actors:
“I treasure this, but never more than when I treasured what I used to keep in my wallet, which was my SAG card that I earned in 1991. It made me feel like I belonged,” Brendan began.
What an inspiration. Thank you, Brendan! #SAGAwards pic.twitter.com/6bgVi7LZ33
— SAG Awards® (@SAGawards) February 27, 2023
“As actors, we all want to belong to a tribe and that’s when I found where I belong. And if you told that guy back then that I’d be standing right here right now, I would not have believed you. I wouldn’t have believed that I had a chance to work with world-class filmmakers like Darren Aronofsky, and speak the words of the empathy fountain that is Samuel D. Hunter (who wrote The Whale) and incredible castmates,” he continued, describing his character Charlie as “the role of my life.”
“He’s someone who is on a raft of regrets, but he’s in a sea of hope. And I’ve been at that sea and I rode that wave lately and it’s been powerful and good. And I’ve also had that wave smash me down to the ocean floor and dragged my face along there and wound up on some strange beach in a different world, wondering, where am I now? And i just want you to know, all the actors out there who have gone through that or are going through that, I know how you feel. Believe me, if you just stay in there and you put one foot in front of the other, you’ll get to where you need to go. Have courage,”
Brendan ended his speech with a shoutout to his children, Griffin, Holden and Leland and their mother, Afton Smith.
(Feature Image Credit: Joe Seer/Shutterstock)