Brendan Fraser is a winner at the 2023 SAG Awards!
As he accepted the award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role for his performance in The Whale from presenter Jessica Chastain at the SAG Awards Sunday, Fraser, 54, joked that Sir Ian McKellen had advised him to "be good, be brief and be seated" with his speech. (They co-starred together in 1998's Gods and Monsters.)
"I never would have believed I would have been offered the role of my life in this character, Charlie in The Whale, he's someone who is on a raft of regrets but he's in a sea of hope," the actor said, after recounting that he first received his SAG-AFTRA card in 1991.
"I've been at that sea, and I've rode that wave lately and it's been powerful and good and I've also had that wave smash me right down to the ocean floor and drag my face along there and wind up on some strange beach in a different world, wondering 'where am I now?' " Fraser continued in his speech.
"I just want you to know, for real, all the actors out there who have gone through that, who are going through that, I know how you feel," he added. "But believe me, if you just stay in there and you put one foot in front of the other, you get to where you need to go. Have courage."
Austin Butler (Elvis), Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin), Bill Nighy (Living) and Adam Sandler (Hustle) were among the other nominees for outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role at Sunday's ceremony.
Fraser's commitment to The Whale, in which he plays a 600-lb. man who reckons with the limits of his reclusive life over a period of five days, has earned him multiple award nods, including a Golden Globe nomination and Critics Choice Award win.
On Jan. 5, Fraser — who made his triumphant return to the big screen with The Whale — also clinched the Spotlight Award at the Palm Springs International Film Awards. He has also enjoyed multiple extended standing ovations at film festivals.
"It's been gratifying, it's been eye-opening," the actor told PEOPLE at the latter event of the praise he has received for his performance. "It has made me have a sense of accomplishment by way of seeing how this story is changing people's hearts and minds."
He added, "That's gratifying, to say at least, and that kind of opportunity does not come along in this circus show of show business that we all play along with sometimes."
"But when it does, and it's material that's handled with care and the project comports itself in a way that's interesting and important, I feel very fortunate and lucky to be a part of it," said Fraser.
In his emotional acceptance speech for best actor at last month's Critics Choice Awards, Fraser thanked the Critics Choice Association, then joked, "It was Herman Melville who once wrote that there are only five critics in America — the rest are asleep. I don't know what it means, either, but I'm sure glad you woke up for me. Where were you for Furry Vengeance?!", calling out his 2010 comedy costarring Brooke Shields and Ken Jeong.
He went on to describe The Whale as a film "about love," adding, "It's about redemption. It's about finding the light in a dark place, and I'm so lucky to have worked with an ensemble that is incredible," including Hong Chau, Sadie Sink, Ty Simpkins and playwright/screenwriter Samuel D. Hunter.
The 2023 SAG Awards ceremony are airing live on Netflix's YouTube Channel from the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
