Demi Moore struggled to fight back tears as she picked up the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role at Sunday's (23.02.25) Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards

She fought back tears as she said: "This is extraordinary and so deeply meaningful as I was thinking about this night, I realised I hadn't thought back to when I got my membership to this incredible organisation. It was in 1978, I was 15, almost 16, and it changed my life because it gave me meaning, it gave me purpose, and it gave me direction because I was a kid on my own who had no blueprint for life.

"I certainly knew nothing about acting but I watched and I listened and I learned from all of you. You have all been my greatest teachers and I am so, so grateful that I have continued over these so many years to be able to try and to sometimes succeed and sometimes fail but to keep going, and I could not do that without the support of my incredible team, the people who stood behind me...

"I just want to point out that as I watch and learn, just to bring forward this idea, it was the casting directors and directors, and producers who got me in the room to audition where I could feel you and you could feel me. Your feedback meant everything to me, so as these young actors who want to do it all, I just want to encourage you, don't lose sight of the human connection that's the work we do, to be connected to one another..."

Demi then struggled to find the right words as she grew increasingly tearful towards the end of her speech.

Speaking on stage at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium, she added: "The final thing I'll say, there's this idea that what we believe is so much more powerful than what we think, the saying I believe it when I see it but the reality is, when I believe it, I will see it, and I am so grateful, thank you.

"That little girl who didn't believe in herself. I just... the words are kind of beyond me, so Im going to have to just say thank you."

Demi beat off competition from Pamela Anderson ('The Last Showgirl'), Cynthia Erivo ('Wicked'), Karla Sofía Gascón, ('Emilia Pérez') and Mikey Madison ('Anora') to take the award.