Timothée Chalamet just made history as the youngest person to win Best Actor at the SAG Awards, and his acceptance speech proved that in an industry built on the art of pretending, Timmy is the realest.
In case you weren’t following the 2025 awards race, the 29-year-old actor’s win for his transcendent performance in A Completely Unknown came as a bit of a surprise at last night’s ceremony — not just to fans and critics, but to Timothée himself, whose shocked reaction said it all.
Since the Golden Globes in January, Adrien Brody has established himself as the frontrunner and Timothée’s closest competitor in the race to the Oscars on March 2. However, Timmy won at the SAG Awards, beating out Adrien (who was nominated for his role in The Brutalist ), along with Ralph Fiennes (in Conclave ), Colman Domingo (in Sing Sing ), and Daniel Craig (in Queer ).
If you can believe it, this is Timothée’s first major acting award, and when he took the stage, he certainly gave it his all — even if the onstage microphone didn’t do the trick.
Crouching at the mic, Timmy began by thanking his mother before getting real: “I know the polite thing to do is downplay the effort that went into this role and what it means to me, but the truth is, this has been five and a half years of my life. I poured my heart and soul into playing this unparalleled artist, Mr. Bob Dylan, a true American hero, and it was the honor of a lifetime to play him.” As someone who watches a lot of awards shows, I can confidently say that many A-list acceptance speeches feel like a PR-approved arrangement of the right “thank yous” to the right people, with the stars expressing just the right amount of gratitude—but not so much that they risk looking too hungry for praise. But under the watchful eyes of his peers, Timothée dropped the pretense and made no secret of how much he wanted, deserved, and worked for success. “I know we’re in a subjective realm, but the truth is I’m really chasing greatness. I know people don’t say that, but I want to be one of the greats,” he said.
Citing icons from Hollywood and beyond, he continued: “I’m inspired by the greats. I’m inspired by the greats here tonight. I’m inspired by Daniel Day-Lewis, Marlon Brando, and Viola Davis, and I’m inspired by Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps, and I want to be there. So I’m incredibly grateful. It’s not meant to be, but it’s a little fuel. It’s a little ammunition to keep going. Thank you very much.”
Now, if people weren’t thrilled enough with his surprise win, Timothée’s refreshingly honest speech is also getting all sorts of praise online—many praising the star for being so open and unafraid to talk about how much he wants to win, both now and in the future.
Now, I may be a little biased, but Timothée’s pursuit of greatness is definitely on track. This year, he’s starred in two of the ten films nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars: A Complete Unknown and Dune: Part Two. And it’s not even his first time accomplishing this feat, having done the same in 2018 (with Lady Bird and Call Me by Your Name) and 2022 (with Dune and Don’t Look Up). Easy work.
This year, Timothée also earned his second Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Though with Adrien Brody competing this awards season, it’s still unclear whether he’ll win—which would make him the youngest Best Actor winner in history, taking the title from Adrien, of all people, who won the award 22 days before his 30th birthday in 2003. But of course, even if Timmy doesn’t win on Sunday, the pursuit of greatness will surely continue. For years, Timothée’s career has been compared to that of another great actor, Leonardo DiCaprio—and I don’t need to remind you of the number of nominations he received before he won an Oscar…
