In a positive mood, Jessica Chastain!
After winning best female performer in a television movie or series on Sunday at the SAG Awards 2023, she told PEOPLE that she was “a little humiliated” by her stumble while accepting her award. But, she is choosing to look on the bright side.
One of the two incredibly attractive men who helped me up the steps was Paul Mescal, and I fell. I guess that wasn’t so terrible after all, she joked.
Chastain, 45, said she was “over the moon and ecstatic and I can’t believe it” when she won her third SAG Award out of five nominations.
For her role in George & Tammy on Showtime, Chastain won the award for best actress in a television movie or series. In addition to Amanda Seyfried and Emily Blunt, nominees included Julia Garner for Inventing Anna, Niecy Nash-Betts for Dahmer: Monster, and Julia Garner and Emily Blunt for The English (The Dropout).
The actress looked taken aback as her name was called, and she fell up the stairs on the way to the microphone.
After giving a long list of thanks to the people who had a hand in making the project a reality, Chastain, who is currently starring in A Doll’s House on Broadway, said: “Every day after the show I get the opportunity to meet people at the stage door, and I get to meet a lot of actors who tell me their stories.”
She then recalled how the late Philip Seymour Hoffman had pushed her and her classmates “to keep going even when we felt like no one was watching us” during a visit to their college class.
As Chastain continued, “I’m telling this story now because it reminds me how powerful our mind is and that we are what our thoughts create. So I just want to tell everyone who might be struggling at home, to all the actors that I get to meet: Keep going. You’re one job away. I look forward to working with you. I’ll see you on set. I love you.”
As she explained to PEOPLE following her win, “my favorite part about being an actor is that I get to be with other actors,” making the SAG Awards her “favorite” event of awards season.
“I know that sounds a bit silly, but I was the little child at home watching all these programs and taping the Tonys to watch back, and I was so enthralled with this profession and what people got to do and wanted to be a part of it,” she continued.
Chastain continued, “And so I somewhat feel like I slipped in, and it means a lot to me.”
From the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles, the 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards are presently streaming live on Netflix’s YouTube account.
