Eight standout actors from 2024 films have been selected to receive the Virtuoso Award from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF), an honor created to recognize a select group of talent whose noteworthy performances in films this season has propelled them into the forefront of national cinematic conversation. This year’s honorees include Kieran Culkin for “A Real Pain,” Harris Dickinson for “Babygirl,” Karla Sofía Gascón and Selena Gomez for “Emilia Pérez,” Ariana Grande for “Wicked,” Clarence Maclin for “Sing Sing,” Mikey Madison for “Anora,” and John Magaro for “September 5.” Each of them is starring in an Oscar contender or is an Oscar contender themselves for their performances.
The awards ceremony will be held at Santa Barbara’s historic Arlington Theatre on Sunday, February 9th, 2025, and the 40th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival itself runs from February 4th to 15th, 2025. Each honoree will participate in individual interviews and a group discussion, all of which will be moderated by TCM host Dave Karger.
“It’s my 15th consecutive year hosting this event, and this year’s lineup is as impressive as ever, ranging from megastars like Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande, to veteran actors like Kieran Culkin and John Magaro, to true breakouts like Clarence Maclin, Mikey Madison, Harris Dickinson, and Karla Sofía Gascón. I can’t wait to gather them all in front of the wonderful Santa Barbara audience,” remarked Dave Karger.
The last four year’s Virtuosos honorees were Lily Gladstone, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Greta Lee, Charles Melton, America Ferrera, Andrew Scott, Austin Butler, Kerry Condon, Danielle Deadwyler, Nina Hoss, Stephanie Hsu, Jeremy Pope, Ke Huy Quan, Jeremy Strong, Caitriona Balfe, Ariana DeBose, Jamie Dornan, Alana Haim, Ciarán Hinds, Emilia Jones, Troy Kotsur, Simon Rex, Saniyya Sidney, Riz Ahmed, Maria Bakalova, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Andra Day, Sidney Flanigan, Vanessa Kirby, Tahar Rahim, and Zendaya.
Notably, previous Virtuoso Award winners have gone on to win Academy Award for the same roles (all in the Supporting Actor or Actress categories) since 2021, including last year’s Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“The Holdovers“), Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once“), Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story“), and Troy Kotsur (“CODA“). Who from this year’s group could repeat the same success?
The 40th Santa Barbara International Film Festival will take place LIVE February 4th – February 15th, 2025. Official events including screenings, filmmaker Q&As, industry panels, and celebrity tributes, will be held at SBIFF’s Riviera Theatre and its new Film Center, plus the historic Arlington Theatre. Passes for the 2025 Festival are on sale now at sbiff.org.
Last year, the festival had a program of 200+ films from over 48 countries with honorary awards feted on Robert Downey Jr., Bradley Cooper, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Giamatti, Jeffrey Wright, Martin Scorsese, Justine Triet, Billie Eilish, and Ludwig Göransson.
A-list and industry guests will once again ascend to Santa Barbara, making it a must-stop location on the awards circuit, and delivering a record number of films with many World and U.S. premieres. The film lineup and schedule will be announced January 2025.
What do you think of this news for these actors? Do you think any of them will be nominated for an Academy Award for their performance? Please let us know your thoughts in the comments section below or on our X account and check out our latest Oscar predictions here.
