Jane Fonda is set to receive the SAG Life Achievement Award, considered the highest tribute by SAG-AFTRA, at next year’s SAG Awards. The famed actress and activist will be the the 60th recpient of the kudo.
“Jane Fonda is a trailblazer and an extraordinary talent; a dynamic force who has shaped the landscape of entertainment, advocacy and culture with unwavering passion,” said SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher, as the award was announced on Thursday morning. “We honor Jane not only for her artistic brilliance but for the profound legacy of activism and empowerment she has created. Her fearless honesty has been an inspiration to me and many others in our industry.”
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Fonda will be given the honor during the 31st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, which Netflix will stream live on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.
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According to SAG-AFTRA, the life achievement award is given annually to “an actor who fosters the finest ideals of the acting profession.” Most recently, Barbra Streisand received the award in 2023, with Sally Field in 2022 and Helen Mirren in 2021. In naming Fonda, SAG-AFTRA noted Fonda’s six-decade career in film, television and theater, as well as her focus on social causes. Fonda has won two Oscars, two BAFTA Awards, an Emmy, seven Golden Globes, the 2015 AFI Life Achievement Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Women in Film Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award (which was named after her) and the Harry Belafonte Voices for Social Justice Award at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival.
In a statement, Fonda said she was “deeply honored and humbled” to accept the award. “I have been working in this industry for almost the entirety of my life and there’s no honor like the one bestowed on you by your peers,” she said. “SAG-AFTRA works tirelessly to protect the working actor and to ensure that union members are being treated equitably in all areas, and I am proud to be a member as we continue to work to protect generations of performers to come.”
Fonda’s lengthy credits include the films “Klute” and “Coming Home,” both of which earned her Academy Awards for best actress, as well as “9 to 5,” “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?,” “The China Syndrome,” “On Golden Pond,” “Stanley & Iris,” “Monster-In Law” and most recently, “80 For Brady” with fellow SAG Life Achievement honorees Lily Tomlin, Sally Field and Rita Moreno.
In TV, Fonda earned an Emmy for “The Dollmaker,” and also recurred un HBO’s “The Newsroom,” giving her two Emmy noms. She and Tomlin starred in Netflix’s long-running “Grace and Frankie,” and the HBO doc “Jane Fonda in Five Acts” also earned an Emmy nom.
And Fonda, of course, is well-known for her activism in civil rights and gender equality, as well as the antiwar movement and supporting the Indigenous American occupation of Alcatraz. She co-founded the Hollywood Women’s Political Committee with Barbra Streisand and others, and co-founded the Women’s Media Center with Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem. She most recently has been a voice in raising awareness around the global climate crisis.
The SAG Life Achievement Award is chosen by the SAG-AFTRA National Honors and Tributes Committee. Per SAG-AFTRA, “the recipient of this award is a well-established performer who has contributed to improving the image of the acting profession and has a history of active involvement in humanitarian and public service endeavors.”
