NEWSJane Fonda, 87, Declares She'll Be Doing Her 'Own Stunts' in her 90s at 2025 SAG Awards as Actress Refuses to Retire
Jane Fonda was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 2025 SAG Awards.
Jane Fonda isn't done with Hollywood just yet.
While accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2025 Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, February 23, the 87-year-old declared she has no plans to retire while reflecting on her rollercoaster ride of a career as an actress.
Jane Fonda plans on acting through her 90s.
"Your enthusiasm makes it seem, I don't know, less like the twilight of my life and more like a 'go girl, kick a--,' which is good because I'm not done," Fonda said after being introduced on stage by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. "I have had a really weird career. Totally unstrategic. I retired for 15 years and then I came back at 65, which is not usual, and then I made one of my most successful movies in my 80s and probably in my 90s I'll be doing my own stunts and an action movie."
"It's okay to be a late bloomer as long as you don't miss the flower show. I'm a late bloomer, and this is the flower show," she expressed. "I love acting. We get to people's minds to new ideas, take them beyond what they understand of the world and help them laugh when things are tough, like now, and for a woman like me who grew up in the 40's and 50's when woman weren't supposed to have opinions and be angry, acting gave me a chance to play angry woman with opinions."
Jane Fonda briefly retired when she was 50.
Fonda went on to admit she's a "big believer in unions" because they "bring us community" and "power," which she noted was "really important right now," as "worker's power is being attacked and community is being weakened."
"But SAG-AFTRA is different than most other unions because us, the workers, we actors, we don't manufacture anything tangible. What we create is empathy. Our job is to understand another human being so profoundly that we can touch their souls," the Grace and Frankie star noted. "We have to drill deep, don't we?"
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Jane Fonda's speech referenced current issues in the country.
Fonda proceeded to list the painful stories behind many intense roles in the industry — such as a female s-- worker who was likely "sexually abused" as a girl" or male actors who played "boys and misogynists."
"While you may hate the behavior of your character, you have to understand and empathize with the traumatized person you are playing," she explained," before calling out Sebastian Stan's work in The Apprentice.
Jane Fonda received a standing ovation for her speech.
The Barbarella actress concluded her speech by discussing the topic of being "woke" — which she defined as meaning "you give a d--- about other people."
"A whole lot of people are going to be really hurt by what's happening [in our country], what is coming our way, even if they are of a diff political persuasion," she expressed. "We need to call upon our empathy and not judge and listen from our hearts and welcome them into our tent. We are going to need a big tent to resist successfully what is coming at us."
