HIghlights From The SAG Awards – Including The Speech Everyone Is Talking About

Award season is half way through and as we anticipate the grand finale, the stars are being feted and lauded with designer duds, high-priced accessories and enough booze to keep them rolling for the rest of the year.

The latest installment during the period when celebrities celebrate their extraordinarily pampered existence is the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards that took place Sunday night at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

Much like its predecessors – there were very few surprises as the big winners of the night kept in line with expectations.

Birdman continued its winning streak by garnering the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture while the impressionably popular British offering Downton Abbey got the Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. Netflix proved that streaming capabilities pays off, as Orange is the New Black won Best Comedy Ensemble while Uzo Aduba got the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actress. Kevin Spacey also managed to nab the Outstanding Actor award for his brilliant turn in House of Cards.

The main categories pretty much remained consistent with Julianne Moore winning the top actress prize for her turn in Still Alice and Eddie Redmayne winning the top actor prize for The Theory of Everything.

The highlight of the night absolutely fell on the luminous shoulders of Viola Davis, who won the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actress in a Drama Series for her remarkable portrayal of Annalise Keating on the ABC hit show How to Get Away with Murder.

The 49-year-old stunner accepted her award with the grace and dignity that very few of her colleagues are able to organically exude. She also gave an emotional speech that was fantastically earnest and memorable, as she expressed her gratitude to the show’s producers, Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers, while also acknowledging that despite her “non-classic beauty”, she is still being utilized in ways that prove that she is perfect just the way she is.

This was no doubt another swipe at New York Times writer Alessandra Stanley, who became a household name last fall after publishing an article where she tried to dissect the “an angry black woman syndrome by using Shonda Rhimes as her guinea pig. But things got a little sticky when she attempted to define Davis as “less classically beautiful” compared to counterparts like Halle Berry and Kerry Washington.

Clearly, Davis remains unscathed by the insult and is enjoying her new role and all the wonderful things that have sprung from it, but besides her endearing acceptance speech, it was her overall presentation that might just be her best message yet.

Her natural tresses and divinely toned skin was a welcomed sight that many dark-skinned gals have yearned to see – especially in an industry that perpetuates a particular beauty scheme. It was refreshing to hear Davis declare herself good enough for the ones who are willing to bet on her talent and we couldn’t agree more.

Click here for the complete list of winners.