The SAG-AFTRA Life Achievement Award (formerly the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award) is presented by the Screen Actors Guild's National Honors and Tributes Committee for "outstanding achievement in fostering the finest ideals of the acting profession." It predates the 1st Screen Actors Guild Awards by over thirty years. The award's first recipient was performer and comedian Eddie Cantor, in 1962. Since then, it has been presented every year except 1963, 1981 and 2021. On two occasions, two people received the award the same year: in 1985, when it was presented to actor Paul Newman and actress Joanne Woodward, and in 2000, when it was presented to civil rights activists Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. The award was not given in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of 2025, 63 people have received the award, of whom 40 are men and 23 women.
Award recipients YearImageRecipient(s)Presenter 1962 1963 Not awarded 1964 1965 Charlton Heston 1966 Ronald Reagan 1967 1968 Henry Fonda 1969 1970 Charlton Heston 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 Not awarded 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 Judson Scott 1994 Ann-Margret 1995 Tom Skerritt 1996 Glenn Close 1997 Gregory Peck accepted the award on Taylor's behalf as she was hospitalized and unable to attend the awards ceremony. 1998 Michael Douglas 1999 Denzel Washington 2000 Whoopi Goldberg 2001 Tom Selleck 2002 Ray Romano and Morgan Freeman 2003 Michael Douglas 2004 Mel Gibson and Julie Andrews 2005 Jamie Lee Curtis 2006 Anne Hathaway 2007 Burt Reynolds 2008 Forest Whitaker 2009 Sandra Bullock 2010 Morgan Freeman 2011 Dick Van Dyke 2012 Alec Baldwin 2013 Morgan Freeman 2014 Carrie Fisher 2015 Tina Fey and Amy Poehler 2016 Dolly Parton 2017 Rita Moreno 2018 Tom Hanks 2019 Leonardo DiCaprio 2020 Not awarded (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) 2021 Kate Winslet and Cate Blanchett 2022 Andrew Garfield 2023 Jennifer Aniston and Bradley Cooper 2024 Julia Louis-Dreyfus 2025 Woody Harrelson
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