Eight actors, including some of this year’s Oscar hopefuls, were honored Tuesday (February 5) at the 2019 Santa Barbara International Film Festival‘s Virtuosos Award ceremony for achieving a breakthrough performances in film.
First Man‘s Claire Foy, BlacKkKlansman‘s John David Washington, Eighth Grade‘s Elsie Fisher, Can You Ever Forgive Me? star Richard E. Grant, Leave No Trace‘s Thomasin McKenzie, Burning‘s Steven Yeun and A Star Is Born‘s Sam Elliot all stepped out to accept their Virtuosos Award, presented by UGG, at the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Roma star Yalitza Aparicio was the only honoree unable to attend, and received her award on a separate evening, according to SBIFF organizers.
The award presentation was moderated by 9-year SBIFF veteran Dave Karger: “What I love about this event is that it shows once again that you can have a breakout moment at any point in your acting career,” Dave said in his opening remarks. “You can be a performer who is well-known for a television show, who shines in a challenging film role like Steven Yeun or Claire Foy or John David Washington. You can be a young woman in her teens who impressed us all in her first major role — I’m talking about Thomasin McKenzie and Elsie Fisher. You can be a first-time actor, someone who has never done acting before in your life like Yalitza Aparicio. Or you can be a respected veteran actor who scores his first Oscar nomination after decades of impressive work like Sam Elliott.”
FYI: Claire is wearing Dior by Maria Grazia Chiuri.
