Everything Everywhere All At Once sweeps away competition at 29th SAG awards

Everything Everywhere All At Once swept away the competition at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards, collecting almost every top accolade of the night.

The film’s stars Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis all received recognition for their individual performances, as well as the award for best cast in a motion picture – the SAG equivalent of best picture.

Martin McDonagh’s dark Irish comedy, The Banshees Of Inisherin, which received the equivalent number of SAG nominations as Everything Everywhere…, left empty-handed.

Yeoh won the SAG award for outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role, acknowledging that she had been “up against titans” in the category.

“Every one of you know, the journey, the rollercoaster ride, the ups and downs. But most important, we never give up.

“This is not just for me, this is for every little girl that looks like me. Thank you for giving me a seat at the table because so many of us need this. We want to be seen, we want to be heard.

“Tonight you have shown us that it is possible. And I am grateful and my mum will be eternally grateful to you.”

Yeoh was embraced by her co-stars Quan and Curtis, before taking to the stage to collect the award.

Both Quan and Curtis also took home the SAG awards for male and female actor in a supporting role respectively.

In his acceptance speech Quan hailed the increasing diversity within the entertainment industry, thanking those who had “contributed to these changes”.

Acknowledging his achievement as the first Asian actor to win the award, he said: “I quickly realised that this moment no longer belongs to me. It also belongs to everyone who has asked for change.

“The landscape looked so different now than before. So, thank you so much to all of you in this room and everyone who contributed to these changes.”

Finishing his remarks, he added: “To all those at home who are watching and struggling and waiting to be seen. Please keep on going, because the spotlight will one day find you.

“Thank you everyone for rooting for me. I will be rooting for you.”

Moments before, the SAG award for female actor in a supporting role went to Curtis, who hailed actors and acting as she collected the prize.

Wins for Quan and Curtis meant defeat for Banshees stars Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon, all of whom were nominated in the best supporting categories.

Later on in the evening, Colin Farrell also lost out in the category for male actor in a leading role to Brendan Fraser, who gave an emotional acceptance speech.

The US actor said his performance in The Whale had been “the role of a lifetime”, and described the character of Charlie as “someone who is on a raft of regrets but… in a sea of hope”.

“I’ve been on that sea and I’ve rode that wave lately and it’s been powerful and good,” he said.

“And I’ve also had that wave smash me down to the ocean floor and track my face along there, and wind up on some strange beach in a different world and wondering ‘where am I now?’

“And 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.

“Believe me, if you just stay in there and you put one foot in front of the other, you’ll get to where you need to go. Have courage.”

Fraser also won the award over award season frontrunner Austin Butler, who has already scooped a Golden Globe award and Bafta for his performance in Elvis.

After Everything Everywhere… was named as the winner of best cast, its veteran star James Hong gave a comical acceptance speech, in which he vowed to return to the ceremony when he was 100 years old.

“Back in those days… producers said the Asians were not good enough and they are not box office – but look at us now!” the 94-year-old actor said, to cheers from the audience.

On the small screen British shows also performed poorly, losing out to their popular US counterparts.

Outstanding performance by an ensemble in a television drama series went to The White Lotus and the comedy equivalent went to Quinta Brunson’s Abbott Elementary.

Elsewhere, veteran actor Sally Field was presented with the lifetime achievement award by Andrew Garfield, telling audiences that “easy is overrated”.

“I’ve worked my whole life. I have written the highs and tried to learn from the lows,” she said.

“And in all of these almost 60 years there is not a day that I don’t feel quietly thrilled to call myself an actor.”

Famous faces including Ray Liotta, Robbie Coltrane, James Caan, Dame Olivia Newton John, and Dame Angela Lansbury also featured in the show’s in memoriam segment.

The 29th annual ceremony, which is the last major US awards show before the Oscars next month, took place at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.