Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway will be honored with the American Riviera Award at the 42nd annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Hathaway will receive the award on Friday, February 5th at an in-person tribute and conversation celebrating her career, with a focus on her remarkable performance as Penelope in Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.” In the film, Hathaway delivers a moving and layered portrayal of a woman fighting to protect her family and kingdom while awaiting her husband’s return. Starring opposite Matt Damon as Odysseus and Tom Holland as her son Telemachus, Hathaway serves as the emotional core of Nolan’s sweeping epic that has garnered rave reviews and grossed more than $1.8 billion worldwide since its July release. The film marks her third collaboration with Nolan, following “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Interstellar.”
“Anne Hathaway has always impressed me with her theatrical sophistication, unwavering commitment, and remarkable versatility as a performer. In ‘The Odyssey’, she delivers a breathtaking performance, one that stands among the finest of her career, channeling simmering rage and profound emotional complexity into a portrayal that is at once fierce, vulnerable, poignant and unforgettable,” said SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling.
The American Riviera Award was established to recognize actors who have made a significant contribution to American cinema. Previous recipients include Ethan Hawke, Zoe Saldaña, Mark Ruffalo, Brendan Fraser, Kristen Stewart, Delroy Lindo, Renée Zellweger, Viggo Mortensen, Sam Rockwell, Jeff Bridges, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Patricia Arquette, Robert Redford, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Annette Bening, Sandra Bullock, Mickey Rourke, Tommy Lee Jones, Forrest Whitaker, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kevin Bacon and Diane Lane.
An Academy Award, Golden Globe, SAG and BAFTA Award-winning actress, Hathaway is known for her versatility as a performer and producer with a career spanning acclaimed dramas, blockbuster franchises and beloved comedies. In addition to “The Odyssey”, her films this year include “Mother Mary”, “The Devil Wears Prada 2”, “The End of Oak Street” and “Verity”, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel. Her upcoming projects include Ron Howard’s “Alone at Dawn”, “Days of Thunder 2” alongside Tom Cruise and “The Princess Diaries 3”, in which she will reprise her role as Mia Thermopolis. Her recent credits also include “Mother’s Instinct”, “The Idea of You”, “She Came to Me”, “Armageddon Time” and “Eileen”.
Hathaway won the Academy Award, Golden Globe, SAG and BAFTA Awards for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Fantine in Tom Hooper’s 2012 adaptation of “Les Misérables”. She previously earned Academy Award, Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations for her performance in Jonathan Demme’s critically acclaimed “Rachel Getting Married” (2008), for which she was also named Best Actress by the National Board of Review and several critics’ organizations.
Her extensive filmography includes “The Devil Wears Prada”, “Brokeback Mountain”, “The Dark Knight Rises”, “Interstellar”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “Ocean’s Eight”, “The Intern”, “Colossal”, “Dark Waters”, “Get Smart”, “Ella Enchanted” and “The Princess Diaries”, among others. Her television credits include “WeCrashed”, “Modern Love”, “Get Real”, “Family Guy” and “The Simpsons”, for which she received an Emmy Award. Through her production company, Somewhere Pictures, Hathaway has also produced projects including “The Idea of You”, “Verity” and “Mother’s Instinct”.
The 42nd Santa Barbara International Film Festival will take place February 3-13, 2027. Official events including screenings, filmmaker Q&As, industry panels and celebrity tributes will be held throughout the city, including at the historic Arlington Theatre and the recently opened SBIFF Film Center. Recently announced tributes include Carrie Coon, Mariana di Girolamo, Rosalind Eleazar, Jordan Firstman, Anthony Ippolito, Jaafar Jackson, Inde Navarrette and Kate O’Flynn for the Virtuoso Award, John Malkovich for the Outstanding Performer of the Year Award, Andrew Garfield for the Maltin Modern Master Award. Passes for the 2027 Festival are on sale now at sbiff.org.
Last year, the festival’s program featured more than 200 films, showcasing 46 world premieres and 80 U.S. premieres from 50 countries. More than 60 Academy Award winners and nominees were celebrated, including Adam Sandler, Michael B. Jordan, Leonardo DiCaprio, Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn, Kate Hudson, Stellan Skarsgård, Ethan Hawke, Jacob Elordi, Chase Infiniti, Amy Madigan, Wagner Moura, Renate Reinsve, Sydney Sweeney, Teyana Taylor, Wunmi Mosaku, Chloé Zhao, Joachim Trier, Josh Safdie, Ryan Coogler and Jafar Panahi, among others.
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