Jane Fonda Reacts to Sound Flub During Life Achievement Speech at SAG Awards 2025: ‘I Can Conjure Voices!’
Jane Fonda is turning lemons into laughter at the SAG Awards 2025!
While accepting the SAG Life Achievement Award on Sunday, Feb. 23, the actress-activist, 87, poked fun at a sound error that interrupted her stirring speech about working as a woman in Hollywood.
“What we create is empathy. Our job is to understand another human being so profoundly that we can touch their souls. We know why they do what they do. We feel their joy for their pain,” she said firmly before a pre-recorded track cut her off.
“I can conjure voices,” she joked as the crowd laughed. Without missing a beat, Fonda continued her speech.
Neilson Barnard/Getty
At the 31st SAG Awards honoring the best film and television performances of 2024 — with Wicked and Shōgun leading this year’s nominations list — Fonda became the 60th recipient of the Life Achievement honor. In recent years, it has gone to Barbra Streisand, Sally Field, Helen Mirren and Robert De Niro.
The award is dedicated to “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,” per a press release.
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher called Fonda “a trailblazer and an extraordinary talent” and “dynamic force who has shaped the landscape of entertainment, advocacy and culture with unwavering passion” in a statement last October.
Paul Harris/Getty
“We honor Jane not only for her artistic brilliance but for the profound legacy of activism and empowerment she has created,” added Drescher. “Her fearless honesty has been an inspiration to me and many others in our industry.”
Among Fonda’s many other accolades are two Academy Awards, for 1971’s Klute and 1978’s Coming Home, two BAFTAs, an Emmy, seven Golden Globes and last year’s TIME Magazine Earth Award. The organization Women in Film created the annual Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award in 2021.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up to date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
See PEOPLE’s full coverage of the 31st annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, airing on Netflix.
