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30 January 2017 1:01 PM

Moonlight’s Mahershala Ali tears up as he delivers powerful SAG Awards speech

By Samuel McManus

Awards Season with Attitude, sponsored by discoverlosangeles.com.

The Screen Actors Guild Awards took place in Los Angeles last night (January 29), and there was more good news for gay coming-of-age drama Moonlight as Mahershala Ali picked up the Best Supporting Actor Award.

The 42-year-old actor received the gong for Outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role for his portrayal of Juan, the drug-dealing mentor of a young boy struggling to come to terms with his sexuality in the Oscar-nominated drama.

Elsewhere, La La Land’s Emma Stone was named ‘Best Actress’, while the night’s other big winner was US drama Fences, which saw stars Denzel Washington and Viola Davis pick up the ‘Best Actor’ and  ‘Best Supporting Actress’ prizes. The film will go head-to-head with both Moonlight and La La Land in the coveted ‘Best Picture’ category at the Oscars.

In a night of highly politicised speeches, however, it was Ali who was responsible for the ceremony’s most poignant moment as he discussed love, acceptance and his Islamic faith, just hours after Donald Trump implemented an executive order barring entry to the US by refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries.

“I think what I’ve learned from working on Moonlight is we see what happens when you persecute people,” he told the audience at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

“They fold into themselves, and what I was so grateful about in having the opportunity to play Juan was playing a gentleman who saw a young man folding into himself as a result of the persecution of his community.

“Taking the opportunity to uplift him and to tell him he mattered, that he was okay and accept him – I hope that we do a better job of that.”

 

The House of Cards star continued: “When we kind of get caught up in the minutiae and the details that make us all different, I think there are two ways of seeing that. There’s an opportunity to see the texture of that person, the characteristics that make them unique. And then there’s the opportunity to go to war about it. And to say, ‘That that person is different than me and I don’t like you so let’s battle’.

“My mother is an ordained minister. I’m a Muslim. She didn’t do backflips when I called her to tell her I converted 17 years ago. But I tell you now, you put things to the side and I’m able to see her and she’s able to see me. We love each other. The love has grown. And that stuff is minutiae. It’s not that important.”

You can read our exclusive feature on Moonlight in Attitude’s February issue, available to download and in shops now.

Check out the full list of nominees and winners from the SAG Awards below:

Outstanding performance by an actor in a leading role
Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea
Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling – La La Land
Viggo Mortensen – Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington – Fences (WINNER)

Outstanding performance by an actress in a leading role
Amy Adams – Arrival
Emily Blunt – The Girl on the Train
Natalie Portman – Jackie
Emma Stone – La La Land (WINNER)
Meryl Streep – Florence Foster Jenkins

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role
Mahershala Ali – Moonlight (WINNER)
Jeff Bridges – Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges – Manchester by the Sea
Dev Patel – Lion
Hugh Grant – Florence Foster Jenkins

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role
Viola Davis – Fences (WINNER)
Naomie Harris – Moonlight
Nicole Kidman – Lion
Octavia Spencer – Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams – Manchester by the Sea

Outstanding performance by a cast in a theatrical motion picture
Captain Fantastic
Fences
Hidden Figures (WINNER)
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight

Outstanding action performance by a stunt ensemble in a motion picture
Captain America: Civil War
Dr. Strange
Hacksaw Ridge (WINNER)
Jason Bourne
Nocturnal Animals

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a television movie or mini-series
Riz Ahmed – The Night Of
Sterling K. Brown – The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Bryan Cranston – All the Way (WINNER)
John Turturro – The Night Of
Courtney B. Vance – The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a television movie or mini-series
Bryce Dallas Howard – Black Mirror
Felicity Huffman – American Crime
Audra McDonald – Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill
Sarah Paulson – The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (WINNER)
Kerry Washington – Confirmation

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama series
Sterling K. Brown – This is Us
Peter Dinklage – Game of Thrones
John Lithgow – The Crown (WINNER)
Rami Malek – Mr. Robot
Kevin Spacey – House of Cards

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a drama series
Millie Bobby Brown – Stranger Things
Claire Foy – The Crown (WINNER)
Thandie Newton – Westworld
Winona Ryder – Stranger Things
Robin Wright – House of Cards

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a comedy series
Anthony Anderson – Black-ish
Tituss Burgess – Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Ty Burrell – Modern Family
William H. Macy – Shameless (WINNER)
Jeffrey Tambor – Transparent

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a comedy series
Uzo Aduba – Orange is the New Black
Jane Fonda – Grace and Frankie
Ellie Kemper – Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Julia Louis-Dreyfus – Veep – WINNER
Lily Tomlin – Grace and Frankie

Outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series
The Crown
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
Stranger Things – WINNER
Westworld

Outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series
The Big Bang Theory
Black-ish
Modern Family
Orange is the New Black – WINNER
Veep

Outstanding action performance by a stunt ensemble in a television series
Game of Thrones – WINNER
Daredevil
Luke Cage
The Walking Dead
Westworld

Lifetime Achievement Award
Lily Tomlin

Awards Season with Attitude, sponsored by discoverlosangeles.com.

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