Two-time Oscar winner Sally Field collected an Emmy at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Monday, September 14, 2026, and spent part of her time at the microphone thanking a country that was not her own.
“Blessed Canada, our friends,” Field said during her acceptance speech at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards. The room full of stars answered with a loud ovation.
Field, 79, delivered the line as President Donald Trump presses a campaign against Canada that has included a trade war and an executive order renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America” — a document he signed while standing next to a map already bearing the new label.
A Record Broken by Months
Her prize came in the category that honors the top female lead in a movie or a limited or anthology series, recognizing her performance as Tova Sullivan in the Netflix film “Remarkably Bright Creatures.” She looked stunned as she reached the stage, squealing before she began, and she told the crowd she had not expected the award and had been devoted to the film from its earliest pages. She warned the audience she had very little time at the microphone, then thanked the creative team behind the project.
At 79, she became the oldest performer to win in the category, edging out Jessica Tandy — who took the prize for “Foxfire” in 1987 — by a matter of months. The category also included Carey Mulligan for “Beef,” Sarah Snook for “All Her Fault,” Claire Danes for “The Beast in Me” and Sarah Pidgeon.
The trophy marked Field’s 10th Emmy nomination and her fourth Emmy win, following honors for “Sybil” in 1977, “ER” in 2001 and “Brothers & Sisters” in 2007. She won Academy Awards for best actress for “Norma Rae” in 1979 and “Places in the Heart” in 1984, and earned another Oscar nomination for playing Mary Todd Lincoln in “Lincoln” in 2012.
A Warning About the Paramount Merger
Canada was not the only subject on Field’s mind. She said she had spent roughly 62 years inside the arts community, and argued from the stage that artists carry real weight and that the range of stories they tell is worth defending. She then urged the audience to fight back against the proposed $111 billion combination of Paramount and Warner Bros.
“We can’t let those voices be silenced or compromised or merged,” she said.
That deal has unsettled much of the industry gathered in the room. Paramount CEO David Ellison, the son of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, combined his Skydance with Paramount Global in 2025. Soon after that transaction closed, he upended a deal Netflix had already struck to buy Warner Bros., topping it with a higher offer for all of Warner Bros. Discovery. Joining the two legacy studios still requires a regulatory green light, and the attempt has drawn antitrust objections as well as protest from a creative community that says a merger on that scale would destroy an enormous number of jobs.
Praise for Vancouver After the Show
Field returned to the subject of Canada at a press conference after the ceremony, praising the country again and noting that “Remarkably Bright Creatures” was shot in Vancouver, where she said she felt welcomed. The film, she said, dealt with the things that matter most to her — friendship, family and home — and she told reporters those things should be fought for and defended rather than surrendered, closing with a call to resist.
“It’s a stunning, stunning city,” she said of Vancouver, adding that people should hold on to their friendships and keep their neighbors close.
Mariska Hargitay hosted the ceremony, which aired on NBC and streamed live on Peacock. It drew 6.7 million viewers, down 9 percent from last year. Actor Matthew Rhys made Emmy history on the same night, becoming the first performer ever to take home two lead acting Emmys on a single evening, along with the first man to claim all three top acting prizes.
Field’s shout-out was not the only nod north during the telecast. Michael J. Fox, the “Back to the Future” star who hails from Burnaby, accepted the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for his advocacy on Parkinson’s disease. He was diagnosed with the illness in 1991.