Brendan Fraser made an emotional speech to the leading lights in the acting world at the Screen Actors Guild last night.
The Whale actor, 54, secured the award for Outstanding Performance by a male leading actor in the Darren Aronofsky–directed drama, at the 29th annual ceremony.
Fraser gave a passionate acceptance speech in which he praised SAG for his 'acceptance' back in 1991 and used his speech to spur on fellow actors who may be struggling in the industry adding: "I know how you feel."
Holding out his award from the podium, he told the audience: “I will treasure this, but never more than what I treasured – what I used to keep in my wallet, which was my SAG card that I earned in 1991,” he said.
“It made me feel like I belong. As actors we all want to belong to a tribe and that’s when I found where I belonged.
“If you told that guy back then, that I’d be standing here – I would not have believed you.”
The Whale tells the story of a morbidly obese English teacher, Charlie (Fraser), as he tries to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter, Ellie (Sadie Sink).
The star described his award-winning role as character Charlie as the "the role of my life" and said he related to his characters plight describing a poetic parallel of riding waves amid 'a raft of regrets'.
Fraser fought off a tough category which included Austin Butler for Elvis, Colin Farrell for The Banshees of Inisherin, Bill Nighy for Living and Adam Sandler for Hustle.
It's not his first win for the picture, with a busy awards season, as he scooped up an Oscar and 2023 Critics Choice Awards.
The veteran actor was previously honoured by SAG Awards for 2004 release Crash for Outstanding Performance by a Cast along with costars including Thandiwe Newton, Ryan Phillippe, Matt Dillon and Sandra Bullock.
But last night's awards were a chance to acknowledge the latest screen stars with the casts of 'Everything Everywhere All at Once,' 'Abbott Elementary' and 'The White Lotus' securing success with awards.
Other winners included Jason Bateman, Jean Smart, Sam Elliott, Jeremy Allen White and Jessica Chastain.
The SAG Awards aired live on Netflix’s YouTube channel with the winners voted on by 122,600 SAG-AFTRA members.
