The Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award is presented by the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

's National Honors and Tributes Committee for "outstanding achievement in fostering the finest ideals of the acting profession." It predates the

1st Screen Actors Guild Awards The Inaugural Screen Actors Guild Awards aired on NBC from Stage 12, Universal Studios, on February 25, 1995. Unveiled during this evening for the first time was the Guild's new award statuette, The Actor, as well as the first awards for ensembles ...

by over thirty years. The award's first recipient was performer and comedian Eddie Cantor, in 1962. Since then, it has been presented every year except 1963, 1981 and 2021. On two occasions, two people received the award the same year: in 1985, when it was presented to actor Paul Newman and actress

Joanne Woodward Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an American actress. A star since the Golden Age of Hollywood, Woodward made her career breakthrough in the 1950s and earned esteem and respect playing complex women with a charact ...

, and in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, when it was presented to

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

activists

Ossie Davis Raiford Chatman "Ossie" Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an American actor, director, writer, and activist. He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death. He and his wife were named to the NAACP ...

and Ruby Dee. The award was not given in 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. As of 2021, 59 people have received the award, of whom 39 are men and 20 women. Helen Mirren was announced as the recipient for the 2021 award.

Award recipients

References

{{Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award Lifetime achievement awards