At the 2025 SAG Awards on February 23, the 46-year-old Avatar star introduced a prize for exceptional performance by a female actor in a supporting role.
The actress, who is vying for an Oscar this year, already won the Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for her performance as Rita in the Spanish musical Emilia Pérez.
She said, “I got my first SAG card in 1998 and I didn’t even know what SAG was, and I am grateful that my mother and my father and my sisters looked it up and helped me educate myself on what it means to be a part of a union that protects me so that I can make a living out of this crazy, crazy industry.”
In addition to her agents and attorneys, the Amsterdam star says she is grateful to her “work family” for “educating me every day on how I can make a living and support my family doing what I love.”
“I think it’s so important for us actors to financially educate ourselves,” she stated. “I also want to express my gratitude to my family for their unwavering support and beauty. I’m honored to be a member of a union that accepts me for who I am, and I’ve never had my origins questioned or my speech or pronouns used against me.”
She ended her address with a touching message: “I believe that everybody has the right to be who they are and Emilia Pérez is about truth and it’s about love, and I think that us as actors now more than ever before we really have to tell stories that are beautiful and thought provoking and live within the spectrum of artistic freedom.”
Saldaña joined a distinguished group of actresses who were also nominated, including pop star Ariana Grande for her work in Wicked, Jamie Lee Curtis for The Last Showgirl, Danielle Deadwyler for The Piano Lesson, and Monica Barbaro for her role in A Complete Unknown.
