Jonathan Majors Wins Best American Actor at Septimius Awards 2025 for Magazine Dreams in Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands—In a move that placed raw artistic achievement squarely above industry controversy, Jonathan Majors was named Best American Actor at the Septimius Awards 2025 on September 4th. The accolade, presented at the legendary Tuschinski Theater in Amsterdam, celebrated Majors’ intensely physical and psychologically complex performance as Killian Maddox in the film Magazine Dreams.

The 8th edition of the Septimius Awards, an international showcase committed to honoring global cinema and independent voices, provided the actor a powerful platform of recognition that had long been denied to the film in its home market. For many critics and film aficionados, the award functions less as a comeback narrative and more as an undeniable validation of the craft Majors displayed in a role described by many as his most demanding to date.

Magazine Dreams, written and directed by Elijah Bynum, is a harrowing character study that tracks the descent of Killian Maddox, an isolated, deeply troubled aspiring bodybuilder who dedicates his life to achieving the sculpted perfection seen on the covers of his favorite magazines. Majors’ embodiment of Killian required not only a startling physical transformation, but a meticulous portrayal of the character’s profound social awkwardness, simmering resentment, and eventual violent break with reality.

In a concise acceptance speech that avoided direct mention of the tumult surrounding his career, Majors directed his gratitude to the complex relationship between art and the audience. "Every actor knows that some roles require everything you have—and then some," Majors stated, his voice reflecting a mix of humility and relief. "Killian Maddox demanded that absolute sacrifice. I thank the international jury of the Septimius Awards for looking past the noise, for recognizing the difficult journey of this film, and for judging the work based on the artistic merit that was poured into every frame. This is a profound honor for the entire Magazine Dreams family."

A Masterclass in Transformation

The Septimius jury’s decision highlights the critical consensus that has followed Majors' performance since the film's world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Critics consistently praised Majors for achieving an almost unbearable level of immersion, crafting a figure who is both pitiable and frightening. His performance has been lauded as a masterclass in physical acting, yet its true power lies in the subtle psychological detail: the twitching anxiety, the desperate need for connection, and the chilling inability to distinguish between the glossy fantasy of magazine fame and the bleak reality of his lonely life.

The road for Magazine Dreams has been as fraught as Killian’s own life. Initially acquired by Searchlight Pictures, the film’s release was indefinitely postponed in the wake of Majors’ legal issues, an industry move that effectively erased the film from the 2024 awards season. Its eventual rescue and independent distribution by Briarcliff Entertainment in March 2025 ensured that audiences could finally witness what critics had been championing for over a year. The Septimius Award, presented six months after its re-release, now serves as the crowning critical vindication.

Amsterdam’s Unconventional Platform

The Septimius Awards ceremony itself, held across September 3rd and 4th in the dazzling, multi-tiered Tuschinski, provided a fittingly theatrical backdrop for the controversial honor. Known for its broad inclusion of talent from non-Western markets—the Septimius hands out awards for "Best African Film," "Best Asian Film," and "Best Oceanian Film"—the platform often operates outside the traditional hierarchy of the Hollywood-centric awards circuit.

Majors was notably engaged in the two-day event, participating in an industry panel where he discussed the evolving landscape of global opportunity. His presence, alongside that of fellow Lifetime Achievement recipient Kevin Spacey, signaled the festival's willingness to embrace artists facing career complexities, prioritizing their contributions to the cinematic field.

In recognizing Magazine Dreams, the Amsterdam jury has implicitly underscored a common sentiment within the international film community: that the excellence of a performance can exist independently of the personal life of the actor, and that suppressing a powerful work of art due to external factors ultimately harms cultural discourse.

The Best American Actor award for Magazine Dreams is not the final word on Jonathan Majors’ career, but it is an emphatic statement. It ensures that the debate surrounding the actor—which has been dominated by legal and ethical questions—will now have a professional, artistic counter-argument. As Majors accepted the award in a city thousands of miles from the Hollywood machine, the focus momentarily shifted from the headlines back to the demanding, singular piece of acting that the Septimius Awards deemed worthy of the highest praise. The craft, the jury decided, endures.