Viola Davis' important acceptance speech and 2015 SAG Award Winners

buzzz worthy. . .

Viola Davis accepts the 2015 SAG Award for her role in "How to Get Away With Murder." During her acceptance speech, Davis said, "Than you to all he people who love me just the way I am."

The 21st Annual SAG Awards aired from Hollywood's Shrine Auditorium  on Sunday, January 25 with Birdman, Downton Abbey and Orange Is the New Black as the evening's big winners.

The SAGS are the  only award show where peers recognize peers. This year's  nominees were selected by a body of 4,200 SAG members.  Half of the members chose honorees in film, while half chose honorees in television. Legendary actress Debbie Reynolds was handed the Lifetime Achievement Award by her daughter, Carrie Fisher.

For Viola Davis, winner of the SAG for Best Actress in a TV Drama, accepting the honor was an opportunity to respond to New York Times writer Allesandra Stanley shunning her looks that made news in 2014 and more broadly to send a message to an industry that often overlooks dark skinned actresses as beautiful to be more open.  The writer's comments (specifically calling Davis "less classically beautiful than Kerry Washington") put her into a box that may be more stereotypically suited to the Oscar winning maid role she played on "The Help" instead of the sexy attorney she played  on "How to Get Away With Murder" (HTGAWM). 

In an emotional acceptance speech she thanked the creator of HTGAWM, Shonda Rhimes for imaging someone like her in the part.

"All right, when I tell my daughter stories at night, invariably a few things happen. Number one, I use my imagination. I always start with life and I build from there," she said. "And then the other thing that happens...she always says, 'Mommy can you put me in the story?' It starts from the top up, so I'd like to thank Paul Lee, Shonda Rhimes, Besty Beers...and Pete Nowalk…for thinking that a sexualized, messy, mysterious woman could be a 49-year-old dark skinned African-American woman who looks like me."

Continued Davis, "And thank you to all the people who love me exactly how God made me, and that's my beautiful husband Julius, my 4-year-old daughter at home, Genesis, and my mother, May Alice Davis. Thank you so much."

Davis' point was made even more clear as she wore a classically beautiful Afro hairstyle and her dark skin glowed beautifully against the white dress she wore.

The ful list of SAG 2015 winners follows.

2015 SAG AWARD WINNERS

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything 

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Jennifer Aniston, Cake
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash 

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
Naomi Watts, St. Vincent

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE IN A DRAMA SERIES
Boardwalk Empire
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
Homeland
House of Cards

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE IN A COMEDY SERIES
The Big Bang Theory
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Modern Family
Orange Is the New Black
Veep 

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Woody Harrelson, True Detective
Matthew McConaughey, True Detective
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Claire Danes, Homeland
Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Robin Wright, House of Cards

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Louis C.K., Louie
William H. Macy, Shameless
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Uzo Aduba, Orange Is the New Black
Julie Bowen, Modern Family
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION MOVIE OR MINISERIES
Adrien Brody, Houdini
Mark Ruffalo, The Normal Heart
Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock: His Last Vow
Richard Jenkins, Olive Kitteridge
Billy Bob Thornton, Fargo

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION MOVIE OR MINISERIES
Ellen Burstyn, Flowers in the Attic
Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Honorable Woman
Frances McDormand, Olive Kitteridge
Julia Roberts, The Normal Heart
Cicely Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful


OUTSTANDING ACTION PERFORMANCE BY A STUNT ENSEMBLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
Fury
Get On Up
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Unbroken
X-Men: Days of Future Past 

OUTSTANDING ACTION PERFORMANCE BY A STUNT ENSEMBLE IN A COMEDY OR DRAMA SERIES
24: Live Another Day
Boardwalk Empire
Game of Thrones
Homeland
Sons of Anarchy
The Walking Dead 

LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Debbie Reynolds