Only Harrison Ford could so effortlessly toggle between pulling on audience heartstrings and cracking whip-smart jokes. In his acceptance speech for this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award from SAG-AFTRA‘s Actor Awards on Sunday, the Oscar-nominated performer quipped about it being “a little weird” that the distinction was being presented “at the half point of my career.”
“It’s a little early, isn’t it? I’m still a working actor,” he said.
The Indiana Jones and Star Wars alum recalled struggling in the business for 15 years, hopping from acting to carpentry, before landing his big break in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, which introduced the world to Han Solo. He thanked George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, as well as late casting director Fred Roos and late manager Patricia McQueeney.
Ford then earnestly launched into his origin story, beginning: “In my third year of college, I was a little lost. I was failing at school. I felt isolated, alone, and then I found the company of people putting on plays — storytellers, people I once thought were misfits and geeks turned out to be my people. I found a calling, a life in storytelling, an identity, in pretending to be other people. The work I do with other actors is one of the great joys of my life.”
Throughout the beautiful speech, in which Ford channeled both raw emotion and lighthearted gratitude, attendees like Timothée Chalamet, Natasha Rothwell, Hannah Einbinder, Emma Stone and Wunmi Mosaku watched with rapt attention.
The 1923 actor continued, “My career is built on [actors’] work as well as the work of writers, directors and every single cast member, every crew member I’ve ever been on a set with. I’ve had incredible collaborators every step of the way and being able to deliver the work we create together to an audience is an honor and a privilege, and because of that privilege, I’ve come to know myself. Ours is a tough business to get into. In my case, it’s been a tough business to get out of — thank God, because I love what I do.”
Honoring the craft of performance, he said: “As actors, we get to live many lives. We get to explore ideas that affirm and elevate our shared experience. The stories we tell have a unique capacity to create moments of emotional connection; they bring us together. So while we’re all at different stages of our lives and careers in this room, we all share something fundamental. We share the privilege of working in the world of ideas, of empathy, of imagination. Sometimes we make entertainment, sometimes we make art. Sometimes we’re lucky — we make them both at the same time. And if we’re really fortunate, we also get to make a living doing it.”
He concluded, “Success in this business brings a certain freedom that comes with the responsibility to support each other, to lift others up when we can, to keep the door open for the next kid, the next lost boy who’s looking for a place to belong.”
Ford thanked his wife, Calista, and reiterated his sentiments of luck and gratitude for enjoying “work that challenges me.” He added, “I don’t take that for granted … thank you, truly, from the bottom of my heart to my peers, to my extraordinary, beautiful wife, Calista, and my family for giving me love and courage through all of it.”
But Ford’s speech wouldn’t be complete without a final tongue-in-cheek quip: “And thank you to SAG-AFTRA for honoring me with this prize. This is very encouraging.”
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Ford’s friend and fellow industry member Woody Harrelson presented the Shrinking star with the distinction, and the Now You See Me actor had introduced Ford with a meandering, joke-filled oration.
“Thank you, Woody, for that restricted introduction,” Ford said wryly.
Harrelson cracked self-deprecating jokes about his own career, occasionally making fun of the audience for not laughing along more often. Noting that Ford’s movies have grossed over $10 billion, he said he considered his own work successful if “13 people have seen it on JetBlue.”
Following a highlight reel of Ford’s films, Harrelson finally introduced the “esteemed, living legend” and concluded his speech by saying that it should “discourage any other friend from asking me to do this again.”
Last December, it was announced the veteran actor — who walked up to the Indiana Jones theme — would receive the guild’s Life Achievement Award, SAG-AFTRA’s highest honor recognizing career and humanitarian accomplishments.
Some of Ford’s most recent work includes the Bill Lawrence, Jason Segel and Brett Goldstein co-created Shrinking. The Apple TV comedy has its third season currently rolling out. Ford portrays Dr. Paul Rhoades, mentor to Segel’s character Jimmy. In a recent Season 3 episode of the series, Ford’s character went back to work while humming the Indiana Jones theme song, as shown in the scene reel.
Shrinking has been renewed for a Season 4, and Ford received his first Emmy nomination at the age of 83 for his work in Season 2.
Dessi Gomez contributed to this report.