Joaquin Phoenix Wins for 'Joker,' Pays Tribute to Heath Ledger at SAG Awards 2020 (Video)

Joaquin Phoenix honors his “favorite actor” Heath Ledger after his win at the 2020 Screen Actors Guild Awards!

The 45-year-old Joker star – who won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role – gave a special shout-out to the late Dark Knight actor on Sunday (January 19) at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

“I’m standing here on the shoulders of my favorite actor, Heath Ledger,” Joaquin said. They both played the Joker!

Joaquin beat out Christian Bale (Ford v Ferrari), Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Adam Driver (Marriage Story), and Taron Egerton (Rocketman), and he also made sure to pay tribute to them during his speech.

“When I started acting again…going to auditions, I always got the final callback,” Joaquin said. “Many people know what that’s like. There would be, like, two other guys I was up against. We would always lose to this one kid. No actor would ever say his name because it was like too much. But every casting director would say it’s Leonardo. Who is this Leonardo? You know? You’ve been an inspiration for over 25 years to me and so many people. I thank you very very, very much.”

He then asked Christian to “suck just once” during his career: “You commit to your roles in ways that I can only dream of. You never turn in a bad performance. It’s infuriating. I wish you would. One time. Just suck once. It would be great.”

To Adam, Joaquin said, “I’ve been watching you the last few years and you’ve just been turning in these beautiful nuanced, incredible, profound performances, and I’m just moved by you, and you were devastating in this film. And you should be here.”

Finally, to Taron, he remarked, “You’re so beautiful in this movie. And I’m so happy for you. And I can’t wait to see what else you do.”

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25+ pictures inside of Joaquin Phoenix at the event…