'We are in our documentary moment': Jane Fonda delivers fiery SAG speech and other key moments

Renowned actress Jane Fonda delivered a passionate speech at today's Screen Actors Guild Awards, calling for the entire industry to unite, jointly address the current challenges, and give the union the respect it deserves. She emphasized the important role of the union in protecting the rights of actors and building a community within the industry, encouraging everyone to remain united in a turbulent political environment.

The two-time Oscar winner and highly acclaimed social activist was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2025 Screen Actors Guild Awards. Presenter Julia Louis-Dreyfus, in welcoming Fonda to the stage, enumerated her numerous awards and accomplishments. Louis-Dreyfus humorously remarked, "This woman is 87 years old – for God's sake, Jane, slow down, you make us all look bad," eliciting thunderous laughter from the audience.

Fonda then delivered a moving speech, urging her union colleagues to fight for their community. "This award means so much to me… which is good, because I’m not done. My career has been so strange, completely without strategy. I retired for 15 years, and then came back at 65, which is unusual. And then in my 80s, I made one of my most successful movies, and probably in my 90s, I’ll be doing my own stunts in an action film," Fonda said. She quoted a proverb: "It’s okay to be a late bloomer, as long as you don’t miss the flower show? Well, I’m a late bloomer, and this is my flower show."

Fonda used her time on stage to pay tribute to the union, mentioning the 2023 Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike that brought Hollywood to a standstill. She emphasized: "(The union) supports us, they bring us into community, and they empower us. Community means strength. And that’s especially important now as workers’ power is under attack, and community is being undermined."

The 87-year-old then urged her industry colleagues to stand together and face the turbulent political situation. "(Actors) what we create is empathy… and empathy is not weakness or ‘woke’," she said. "Which, by the way, woke just means you’re aware of other people. So many people are going to be hurt by what’s coming, even people from different political persuasions, and we need to call on our empathy and not judge, and welcome them into our tent – because we need a big tent to successfully resist what’s coming." Fonda recalled filming her first movie at the tail end of McCarthyism – a period in American history marked by censorship, fear of communism, and persecution of Hollywood's LGBTQIA+ community – and witnessing many careers being destroyed.

"Have you watched documentaries of great social movements… and asked yourself, ‘Do I have the courage to walk across that bridge?’” she said. "We don’t need to wonder anymore, because we are at our documentary moment. It is here! This is a very serious time, so let’s be brave… we can’t be isolated, we have to stay in community, we have to protect the vulnerable, we have to find ways to project an inspiring vision of the future, a future that’s beckoning and welcoming… let’s do that."