The Palm Springs International Film Awards has announced that Ethan Hawke is the recipient of the Career Achievement Award celebrating his impressive body of work, including his most recent project “Blue Moon.” The Film Awards will take place on January 3rd, 2026, at the Palm Springs Convention Center, with the festival running January 2nd–12th, 2026. The event will be presented by Kering and sponsored by Entertainment Tonight.
“Ethan Hawke has spent four decades building one of the most adventurous and prolific careers in film, consistently delivering performances defined by depth, intelligence, and fearless originality,” said Festival Chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi. “In ‘Blue Moon,’ he brings those same qualities to his show-stopping portrayal of Lorenz Hart, capturing the famed lyricist at a moment when his life is unraveling as his former partner Richard Rodgers debuts ‘Oklahoma!’Hawke’s work here stands among the most powerful performances of his career. It is a privilege to present the Career Achievement Award to Ethan Hawke.”
Teaming up once again with his frequent collaborator, filmmaker Richard Linklater, “Blue Moon” sees Hawke star as legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart. On the evening of March 31st, 1943, Hart confronts his shattered self-confidence in Sardi’s bar as his former collaborator Richard Rodgers celebrates the opening night of his ground-breaking hit “Oklahoma!” By the time this night is over, Hart will have confronted both a world that no longer values his talent and the seeming impossibility of love. The film from Sony Pictures Classics also stars Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale, and Andrew Scott.
Hawke joins this year’s previously announced honorees Michael B. Jordan (Icon Award), Leonardo DiCaprio (Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor), Adam Sandler (Chairman’s Award), “Hamnet” director Chloé Zhao and cast members Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal (Vanguard Award), and “Sentimental Value” cast members Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, and Elle Fanning (International Star Award). Past recipients of the Career Achievement Award include Kevin Costner, Bruce Dern, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, and Samuel L. Jackson.
Ethan Hawke is an Academy Award–nominated actor whose expansive career includes directing feature films, documentaries, and highly acclaimed stage productions, in addition to being a producer, screenwriter, and best-selling author. Hawke’s filmography includes nine collaborations with filmmaker Richard Linklater, including “Boyhood” (Academy Award, SAG, Golden Globe, BAFTA, Critics Choice, and Independent Spirit Award nominations), and memorably the Before trilogy – “Before Sunrise” and its sequels “Before Sunset” and “Before Midnight” – co-starring Julie Delpy. Hawke, Delpy, and Linklater received Academy Award and Independent Spirit Award nominations for writing the latter two films and were honored with the Louis XIII Genius Award for the trilogy at the 2014 Critics Choice Awards. He received Academy Award and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Supporting Actor for Antoine Fuqua’s “Training Day,” opposite Denzel Washington. He also received career-best notices for Paul Schrader’s “First Reformed,” for which he won the Independent Spirit Award, the Gotham Award, and over 30 critics’ awards (including the New York Film Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor). More recently, he received career-best acclaim for his portrayal of abolitionist John Brown in “The Good Lord Bird,” the Showtime series he starred in, executive produced, and co-wrote, winning a Peabody Award among numerous other accolades, including AFI TV Program of the Year, the Gotham Award for Outstanding Performance in a New Series, and SAG, Golden Globe, and TCA Award nominations, along with WGA and USC Scripter Award nominations for his writing.
What do you think of this news for the Palm Springs International Film Festival? Have you seen “Blue Moon” yet? If so, what did you think of Ethan Hawke’s performance in the film? Please let us know your thoughts in the comments section below or on our X account.
