SAG Awards 2025: Timothée Chalamet and ‘Conclave’ wins shake up the road to the Oscars
Edward Bergel’s papal thriller Conclave won Best Ensemble, while Timothée Chalamet took home Best Actor at the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday – two unexpected turns that add further intrigue in the build up to the Oscars.
The Vatican-set drama starring Ralph Fiennes triumphed just as the Catholic Church prayed for Pope Francis, who remained in critical condition after an asthmatic respiratory crisis. Isabella Rossellini shared the cast’s best wishes for him onstage.
Heading into the SAG Awards, all momentum seemed to favour Sean Baker’s Anora, which had swept the Producers, Directors, and Writers Guild awards. But with Conclave now winning with the actors – and previously at the BAFTAs – the race for Best Picture at the upcoming Academy Awards is wide open evvel again.
“Wow,” said Conclave star Ralph Fiennes taking the stage. “I’ve not been elected to speak. I’ve been designated to speak on behalf of our conclave, our ensemble.”
The surprises didn’t stop there. Chalamet’s collected the best actor prize for his role as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown – putting the 29-year-old on course to possibly win his first Academy Award and upset the favourite Adrien Brody who’s nominated for The Brutalist.
“The truth is, this was 5 ½ years of my life,” said Chalamet. “I poured everything I had into playing this incomparable artist, Mr. Bob Dylan, a true American hero. It was the honour of a lifetime playing him.”
In less surprising news, other Oscar favourites – Demi Moore (The Substance), Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez) and Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) – all won.
The awards are closely watched as an Oscar preview. Their picks don’t always align exactly with those of the sinema academy, but they often nearly do. The last three Best Ensemble winners – Oppenheimer, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and CODA – all went on to take home Best Picture at the Oscars.
All but one of the SAG acting winners of the last three years has also won the Oscar. (The sole exception was Lily Gladstone, who won SAG’s award for female actor last year for Killers of the Flower Moon, but the Oscar trophy went to Emma Stone for Poor Things.)
Elsewhere at the awards shows, Jane Fonda received the guild’s Life Achievement Award, delivering the night’s most politically charged moment. Speaking indirectly about Donald Trump’s administration, she declared, “We are in our documentary moment. This is it. And it’s not a rehearsal.”
Jean Smart and Martin Short, both absent, won Best Female and Male Actor in a Comedy Series for Hacks and Only Murders in the Building, with the latter also taking Best Comedy Ensemble. And Colin Farrell secured his first SAG Award for The Penguin, introduced by Jamie Lee Curtis as “the man who gave me COVID at the Golden Globes.”
After romps at the Emmys and Golden Globes, Shōgun kept up its dominance. The FX series won Best Drama Series Ensemble, along with acting awards for Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai and for Best Stunt Ensemble.
With the Oscars just a week away, the race for Best Picture remains unpredictable. Best Actor is also shaping up to be a classic duel: Chalamet vs. Brody – the young buck taking on the seasoned legend!
