Honored guests

Kevin Bacon

Outstanding Achievement in Entertainment Award

This award was presented as part of the event In Conversation with Kevin Bacon.

Kevin Bacon is one of the foremost actors of his generation. His talent for balancing starring roles with powerful supporting characters in film, television, and on stage has allowed him to build a varied, critically acclaimed body of work. Bacon has starred in a wide range of film genres, from action thrillers to romantic comedies to heavy dramas, and even the occasional musical. His noted film and TV credits include Footloose, She's Having a Baby, Tremors, JFK, A Few Good Men, The River Wild, Apollo 13, Mystic River, Frost/Nixon, X-Men: First Class, The Following, Black Mass, and City on a Hill. In 1996, Bacon made his directorial debut with the Golden Globe Award-nominated TV film Losing Chase, starring his wife Kyra Sedgwick, Beau Bridges, and Helen Mirren. Bacon has also directed the film Loverboy and several episodes of Sedgwick's hit show The Closer.

An accomplished musician, Bacon is one half of The Bacon Brothers with his brother, Michael. Highly regarded and hugely successful on the national club circuit, they have recorded eight CDs and a concert DVD. Bacon made his Broadway debut in 1983 alongside Sean Penn in Slab Boys and has since appeared in productions of Loot, Spike Heels, and the one-man show An Almost Holy Picture. In 2012, Bacon was one of the noted actors who joined the celebrated Los Angeles reading of Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black's play, 8, which raised funds to overturn California's Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage. In 2007, Bacon launched SixDegrees.org, a website that connects people with celebrities to arrange drop-ins or shoutouts for their charity or cause. In 2020, Bacon ventured into the podcast world for the first time with The Last Degree of Kevin Bacon, a scripted comedy podcast series in which he satirized himself. His new podcast Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is an extension of his advocacy work and features interviews with actors, celebrities, and other guests championing organizations making an impact around the world.

Ava DuVernay

Virtuoso Director Award

This award was presented as part of the Gala Screening Origin.

Academy Award nominee Ava DuVernay is a writer, producer, and director whose films include the upcoming drama Origin, the historical saga Selma, the criminal justice documentary 13th, and the science fiction-fantasy A Wrinkle in Time, which made DuVernay the highest grossing Black woman director in American box office history. DuVernay wrote, produced, and directed her first two films, I Will Follow and Middle of Nowhere; the latter earned her the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards and the U.S. Directing Award: Dramatic at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, making her the first Black woman to win the honor. In 2019, DuVernay's four-part Netflix series When They See Us was honored with 16 Emmy Award nominations. Her critically acclaimed OWN series Queen Sugar was the longest-running Black family drama in American television history. DuVernay amplifies films by people of color and women of all kinds through her nonprofit narrative change collective ARRAY, which is a winner of the Peabody Institutional Award. The Los Angeles-based DuVernay is on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, representing the directors branch. She is board member of the Directors Guild of America and an advisory board member of the American Film Institute.

Photography by Atsushi Nishijima

Emerald Fennell

Spotlight Director Award

This award was presented as part of the Gala Screening Saltburn.

Emerald Fennell is an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Emmy Award, DGA, PGA, and WGA-nominated writer, director, actor, and author who has established herself as a prolific multihyphenate in film, television and theatre. Fennell's directorial debut Promising Young Woman, which she also wrote and produced, won her the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and earned nominations for Best Picture and Best Director. Her feminist, timely take on the revenge genre was recognized as one of the top scripts of the 2018 Blacklist, won two Independent Spirit Awards, and earned multiple Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations. Her debut short film Careful How You Go, which she wrote and directed, premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Fennell also served as the showrunner for the second season of Killing Eve, earning two Emmy Award nominations and an additional Golden Globe nod.

In front of the camera, Fennell has appeared in Greta Gerwig's Barbie and the third and fourth seasons of Netflix's award-winning drama series The Crown, earning a supporting actress Emmy Award nomination for her role as Camilla Parker Bowles. Her other on-camera film credits include The Danish Girl, Pan, and Anna Karenina. On stage, Fennell wrote the contemporary musical version of Cinderella alongside Andrew Lloyd Webber, which debuted on London's West End in 2021 and continued its run on Broadway in 2023 under the title Bad Cinderella. Offscreen, Fennell has published the novels Shiverton Hall, The Creeper, and Monsters, which have drawn comparisons ranging from Roald Dahl to Bret Easton Ellis.

Photography by Alexandra Arnold (B.F.A., photography, 2014)

Rachel Gelfeld

SCAD45 Award

This award was presented as part of the panel Artisans: Crafting the Stunt.

SCAD alum Rachel Gelfeld (B.F.A., performing arts, 2014) is a Los Angeles-based SAG-AFTRA stunt performer. Gelfeld attended SCAD in Savannah and credits it as the place that truly shaped her into the performer she is today. She immediately began pursuing a stunt career after graduating from SCAD, which took her from Atlanta to Los Angeles to exotic shoot locations around the world, from Hawaii to the Mexican rainforest. Gelfeld has contributed to films like Kimi, The Gray Man, and the upcoming Madame Web, and has appeared extensively on TV in shows like The Rookie, NCIS: Los Angeles, Snowfall, and Based on a True Story. Extremely dedicated to her career, she maintains a busy schedule training in multiple athletic and artistic disciplines, always pushing to expand the diversity of her skill set on-set and offscreen. Gelfeld is the second recipient of the SCAD45 Award, honoring graduates who give all of themselves to their creative careers in the highest ranks of culture and business. SCAD anniversary awards are the university's highest recognition for SCAD alumni. At signature events during the university's 45th anniversary, SCAD45 Award honorees will be selected and celebrated for their exemplary contributions to their professions and for demonstrating, through their success, the preeminence and purpose of a SCAD education.

Sarah Greenwood

Outstanding Achievement in Production Design Award

This award was presented as part of the Signature Screening Barbie.

Sarah Greenwood is one of the film industry's most revered and honored production designers, with multiple Academy Award nominations and BAFTA nominations and wins. Greenwood has been a regular collaborator with director Joe Wright, receiving multiple nominations for work on his films Cyrano, Darkest Hour, Anna Karenina, Hanna, The Soloist, Pride & Prejudice, and the BAFTA-winning Atonement. Greenwood has twice collaborated with director Guy Ritchie on Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, for which she received an Academy Award nomination and the ADG Award for Best Production Design. Her other notable film credits include Ben Wheatley's Rebecca and Bill Condon's Beauty and the Beast, which garnered her multiple award nominations. Greenwood has also contributed to Bharat Nalluri's Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day; Tom Vaughan's Starter for 10; Stefan Schwartz's The Abduction Club, David Kane's Born Romantic and This Year's Love; Sandra Goldbacher's The Governess; and Robert Bierman's A Merry War. Her key TV credits include Joe Wright's series The Last King, Bodily Harm, and Nature Boy; Paul Seed's Ready When You Are Mr. McGill; Jean Stewart's Loving You; Robert Bierman's The Moonstone; Mike Barker's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall; Patrick Marber's Performance: After Miss Julie; Chris Rawlence's The King of Hearts; and Peter Symes' Black Daisies for the Bride.

Alexander Hammer

SCAD45 Award

This award was presented as part of the Gala Screening The Boy and the Heron.

Alexander Hammer (M.A., film and television, 2006) is a director and editor who explores many dimensions of storytelling in his work, which spans scripted films and TV series, documentary features, music videos, interactive content, experiential storytelling, and live performances. Sparked by his last documentary film experience with Amy Schumer, the HBO Max series Expecting Amy, Hammer's passion for character and storytelling has grown exponentially, with the two of them reteaming to tell a new story in the documentary film Jenn Solo, about a dancer who received a later-in-life diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and how her movement enabled her to navigate a complicated path often experienced by those on the spectrum. In bridging the film, music, fashion, and performance industries, Hammer's work has taken him all over the world. Through those experiences and collaborations, he has developed a unique point of view with how to bring unscripted stories to life. Hammer's selected credits include the Grammy Award-winning Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé, Beyoncé's feature-length visual album Lemonade, and the concert films The 1989 World Tour (Taylor Swift), On the Run Tour (Beyoncé and Jay-Z), Rebel Heart Tour (Madonna). While continuing to work with these artists, Hammer has also partnered with musical stars like Lizzo, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Sia, and Nicki Minaj on a variety of projects.

Todd Haynes

Outstanding Achievement in Directing Award

This award was presented as part of the Gala Screening May December.

Passionate about the visual arts since childhood, Todd Haynes studied art and semiotics at Brown University. In 1987, he created the short film Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story with Barbie dolls. Since then, he has tirelessly continued to address questions of gender and identity. His first feature film Poison, inspired by Jean Genet, was released in 1991 and won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. After 1995's Safe, which featured a breakout performance by Julianne Moore, Haynes conjured David Bowie during the Ziggy Stardust period in Velvet Goldmine. His next film, Far from Heaven, also starred Moore and paid homage to Douglas Sirk, earning Haynes an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. In 2006, he had six actors play Bob Dylan in I'm Not There. In 2011, Haynes co-wrote and directed the Emmy Award-nominated HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce. He returned to feature films with Carol in 2015, followed by Wonderstruck in 2017 and Dark Waters in 2019. His first documentary feature, The Velvet Underground, premiered in 2021. Haynes reunited with Moore for his latest film, the Savannah-shot May December.

Kazu Hiro

Career Achievement Award

This award was presented as part of the Gala Screening Maestro.

Kazu Hiro is a contemporary hyperrealist sculptor and two-time Academy Award winner for his work as a special effects makeup artist. A self-taught pioneer in using contemporary materials to create the illusion of life, Hiro developed skills through mimicry, trial, and error. As an early pioneer in Japan, Hiro founded one of the country's first companies of its kind, Makeup and Effects Unlimited, and worked with director Akira Kurosawa on Rhapsody in August. In 1996, Hiro was hired by Rick Baker to work on Men in Black, beginning a decade-long collaboration with Baker. Hiro started his own company, KTS Effects, in 2007, receiving Academy Award nominations for his work on Click and Norbit during this period. After working for 25 years as a special effects makeup artist, Hiro decisively shifted focus in 2012, dedicating himself full time to fine-art sculpture. Using resin, platinum silicone, and many other materials, he constructs large-scale, three-dimensional portraits.

Talked out of retirement by actor Gary Oldman, Hiro returned to Hollywood to create prosthetic makeup for The Darkest Hour, winning his first Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. He won his second Oscar in the category with Bombshell in 2019. Hiro's other film credits include How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Planet of the Apes, Hellboy, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Tron: Legacy, Total Recall, and Looper. Currently, Hiro is primarily focused on producing large scale hyperrealist portrait sculptures in his Los Angeles studio. His recent work has exhibited widely at major art fairs and museums and magnetized attention from collectors, press, and visiting art enthusiasts alike.

Jack Huston

Rising Star Director Award

This award was presented as part of the Gala Screening Day of the Fight.

Jack Huston has distinguished himself as one of our industry's finest talents in front of and behind the camera as well as on stage. Born in London, Huston attended the drama institute Hurtwood House. Best known as an actor, he first gained recognition for his role in HBO's Emmy Award and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning Boardwalk Empire. His other TV credits include Fargo, Manhunt: Deadly Games, Mayfair Witches, The Romanoffs, and Prime Video's upcoming Expats. On film, Huston has appeared in Ridley Scott's House of Gucci and Martin Scorsese's The Irishman. His other credits include the SAG Award-winning American Hustle, The Earthquake Bird, Kill Your Darlings, Not Fade Away, Above Suspicion, Night Train to Lisbon, Antebellum, Unit 234, and I'm Beginning to See the Light. On stage, Huston starred in Alfred Hitchcock's classic Strangers on a Train, produced by Barbara Broccoli for London's West End.

In 2015, Huston founded his production company CYSA to work with leading talent as a writer, director, and producer, all with a singular vision — to help create and bring to life exceptional projects across the globe. His directorial debut film, Day of the Fight, premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, where Huston was honored by Variety with its Breakthrough Director Award. Huston also co-wrote and co-produced the film, which stars his Boardwalk Empire co-star Michael Pitt.

Photography by Raul Romo

Cord Jefferson

Breakthrough Director Award

This award was presented as part of the Gala Screening American Fiction.

Cord Jefferson is an Emmy Award-winning writer who has worked on some of the most complex and popular series of the past decade. With a motley list of projects under his belt, Jefferson has earned praise for being a multifaceted and versatile storyteller. His most recent credits are a powerhouse of critically acclaimed television series that include the groundbreaking limited series Watchmen, for which he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series. His other credits include the philosophical NBC comedy The Good Place, HBO dramas Succession and Station Eleven, Netflix's Master of None, Comedy Central's The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, and the Starz comedy Survivor's Remorse. Among the accolades that Jefferson has earned for his writing work are two Writers Guild Awards and an NAACP Image Award for The Good Place episode "Tinker, Tailor, Demon, Spy." Prior to making his way into television, Jefferson was a journalist, most notably serving as the West Coast editor for Gawker. During his tenure in journalism, Jefferson also wrote for such outlets as The New York Times, National Geographic, NPR, USA Today, MSNBC, Bookforum, and The Daily Beast, among others. American Fiction, which Jefferson wrote and adapted from Percival Everett's novel Erasure, is his directorial debut, which won the coveted People's Choice Award at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. 

Brent Kiser

SCAD45 Award

This award was presented at the Gala Screening Memory.

Brent Kiser (B.F.A., sound design, 2006) is an Emmy Award-winning sound designer and founder of Unbridled Sound, a Los Angeles-based post-sound company. A SCAD graduate and Kentucky native, Kiser's 15-year career in sound spans feature films, TV series, and documentaries. Kiser most recently served as the sound supervisor and re-recording mixer on the Academy Award-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once, directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, known as Daniels. Kiser first worked with Daniels on their Gotham Award and Independent Spirit Award-nominated Swiss Army Man. His other film and TV credits include Dicks: The Musical, History of the World: Part II, Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize winner Honey Boy, Murderville, Untold, and Together Together.

Kiser received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Editing for Nonfiction Programming in 2011 for the History Channel's Gettysburg, a documentary film that also earned him the MPSE Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing — Long Form Documentary. Kiser received his second Emmy nomination in 2018 for his work on the award-winning Netflix documentary series Wild Wild Country. In addition to film and TV, Kiser's past credits include commercials, podcasts, art installations, and visual albums like Frank Ocean's Endless.

Greta Lee

Spotlight Award

This award was presented as part of the Signature Screening Past Lives.

Greta Lee stars as the lead in Celine Song's Past Lives, which premiered to rave reviews at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and was in competition at the 2023 Berlinale. Also this year, Lee voiced Lyla in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, returning to her voice role from the Academy Award-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and starred in the third season of Apple TV+'s The Morning Show opposite Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. Lee's other credits include the critically acclaimed Netflix comedy, Russian Doll, which was nominated for 13 Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series; Sisters, where she appeared opposite Tina Fey and Amy Poehler; a recurring role on HBO's High Maintenance; and memorable guest appearances on HBO's Girls and Comedy Central's Inside Amy Schumer and Broad City. Lee made her Broadway debut in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee in 2007. She will next appear in the FX and Hulu adaptation of Cathy Park Hong's book Minor Feelings, in which she will star, write, and executive produce.

Eva Longoria

Discovery Director Award

This award was presented as part of the Signature Screening Flamin' Hot.

Having worked consistently in Hollywood for over 20 years, Eva Longoria has cemented herself as an industry staple for her credits in front of and behind the camera. Named by Variety as one of their most anticipated directors of 2023, Longoria continues to hone her craft, seek new projects, and expand opportunities for others by paving the way for future women and minority producers, directors, and industry leaders in Hollywood and beyond. Best known for her acting, Longoria has directed the boxing documentary La Guerra Civil, premiered to critical acclaim at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, and the pilot episode of the HBO Max series Gordita Chronicles, which she also executive produced. Longoria made her feature directorial debut in 2023 with the biopic Flamin' Hot, about the creator of the iconic snack food. Her other directing credits include Versus, Grand Hotel, Black-ish, The Mick, LA to Vegas, Jane the Virgin, Telenovela, Devious Maids, and Ashley Garcia: Genius in Love.

On screen, Longoria captivated audiences for eight seasons of ABC's hit Desperate Housewives, earning a Golden Globe Award nomination for her work on the show. Her past acting credits include BoJack Horseman, Empire, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Young and the Restless, Unplugging, Sylvie's Love, and Tell It Like a Woman. She also starred in the CNN docuseries Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico, an exploration of the country's cuisine. Her upcoming projects include Land of Women, an AppleTV+ miniseries that she will also executive produce, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Aristotle and Dante, and War of the Worlds. Through her production company UnbeliEVAble Entertainment, Longoria has become a significant industry trailblazer. Founded in 2005, Longoria's company actively chooses purposeful projects that accurately represent the stories of Latinx and other underrepresented communities. In 2020, her company partnered with MTV Entertainment Group on an initiative to give more people of color and women opportunities to direct TV movies. Named by People as one of their Women Changing the World, Longoria is also dedicated philanthropist and activist who has consistently lent her voice to the issues she is passionate about, from immigration to reproductive rights.

Jeff Nichols

Auteur Award

This award was presented as part of the Gala Screening The Bikeriders.

Director, writer, and Arkansas native Jeff Nichols has received three awards at the Cannes Film Festival and two nominations for the prestigious Palme d'Or for his films Mud and Loving. Nichols has received multiple Independent Spirit Award nominations, including two Best Director nods, for Mud, Loving, and Take Shelter; Mud also won the 2013 Robert Altman Award. Nichols received his first Independent Spirit Award nomination in 2007, earning a John Cassavetes Award nomination for his 2007 short film Shotgun Stories, which he also wrote. The short film was the first of his collaborations with actor Michael Shannon, who has also starred in Take Shelter and Midnight Special. Nichols' acclaimed 2016 film Loving resulted in Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for lead actor Ruth Negga and a Critics Choice Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Nichols. In addition to his various new projects in development, Nichols also penned the screenplay for the upcoming A Quiet Place: Day One.

Peter Sarsgaard

Vanguard Award

This award was presented as part of the Gala Screening Memory.

Peter Sarsgaard is an Emmy Award-nominated actor renowned for his range and ability to access what is behind the often-complicated facades of the characters he plays. Sarsgaard first received wide acclaim for his appearance in the 1999 film Boys Don't Cry and received a Golden Globe Award nomination in 2003 for his role in Shattered Glass opposite Hayden Christensen. His other film credits include The Batman, Experimenter, Jackie, Blue Jasmine, Pawn Sacrifice, Night Moves, Year of the Dog, An Education, Kinsey, Jarhead, The Dying Gaul, and Garden State. In 2021, he had an integral part in the Academy Award-nominated The Lost Daughter, which was directed by his wife Maggie Gyllenhaal and adapted from Ella Ferrante's novel of the same name. On TV, Sarsgaard has appeared in the miniseries The Slap, Wormwood, The Looming Tower, and Dopesick, where he earned his first Emmy Award nomination. He recently wrapped production on Apple TV+'s Presumed Innocent, where he will star alongside Jake Gyllenhaal.

Sarsgaard attended the Actors' Studio Program at Washington University in St. Louis and made his theatrical debut in the off-Broadway production of Laura Dennis in 1995. He made his Broadway debut in The Seagull in 2008 and has since appeared in Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and Hamlet. Sarsgaard's latest film, Michel Franco's Memory, had its world premiere at the 2023 Venice International Film Festival, where he was awarded the Volpi Cup for Best Actor. Sarsgaard also starred in two other upcoming films that premiered at Venice, Joseph Schuman and Austin Stark's satire Coup! and Olmo Schnabel's romantic thriller Pet Shop Days.

Cailee Spaeny

Breakthrough Award

This award was presented as part of the Gala Screening Priscilla.

One of Hollywood's most promising young talents, Cailee Spaeny made her feature film debut in 2018 opposite John Boyega in Pacific Rim Uprising after winning a nationwide talent search. From small-town Missouri, Spaeny starred in two more major releases in the fall of 2018, Bad Times at the El Royale and the Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic On the Basis of Sex. Her other film credits include The Craft: Legacy and How It Ends. In 2020, Spaeny made her TV debut in Alex Garland's miniseries Devs. She has also appeared in HBO's Emmy Award-winning Mare of Easttown and the Showtime anthology The First Lady. Spaeny earned rave reviews for her star turn as Priscilla Presley in Sofia Coppola's Priscilla, based on Presley's 1985 memoir Elvis and Me. Starring opposite Jacob Elordi as Elvis Presley, Spaeny received the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the 2023 Venice International Film Festival, where Priscilla had its world premiere. Spaeny will reunite with Garland for her next starring role, in the director's upcoming film Civil War.

Photography by Matt Winkelmeyer for Getty Images

Katie Spencer

Outstanding Achievement in Production Design Award

This award was presented as part of the Signature Screening Barbie.

Katie Spencer is a six-time Academy Award nominee recognized for her work on a wide range of films. Born in Yorkshire, England, Spencer studied stage management at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. After several years working in the West End and other area theaters, she transitioned to work as a freelancer for the BBC. Retraining first as a production buyer, then as a set decorator, she worked on projects like as Charles Dickens' Hard Times, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, and Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. It was at the BBC that Spencer first met and worked with production designer Sarah Greenwood, a partnership that has continued for over 20 years. The pair have worked on many successful films together, including Joe Wright's period pieces Pride & Prejudice and Atonement — winning the BAFTA for Best Production Design for the latter, one of Spencer's seven nominations for the award — action movies like Sherlock Holmes and Hanna, innovative films like Wright's Anna Karenina, dramas like Darkest Hour, and the musicals Beauty and the Beast and Cyrano. Barbie is their latest collaboration. Spencer also serves on the Executive Committee for Production Design at the Academy of Motion Pictures (AMPAS). In 2024, AMPAS will host an exhibition in Los Angeles showcasing the work and collaboration between Spencer and Greenwood.

Hoyte van Hoytema

Variety Creative Impact in Cinematography Award

This award was presented as part of the Signature Screening Oppenheimer.

Swiss-born, Dutch by parentage, Swedish by marriage, and educated at Poland's National Film School in Łódź, cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema's oeuvre is as diverse as his background. Best known for his collaborations with director Christopher Nolan — having shot Nolan's Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet, and Oppenheimer — van Hoytema has also worked with noted directors like Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), David O. Russell (The Fighter), Spike Jonze (Her), Sam Mendes (Spectre), James Gray (Ad Astra), and Jordan Peele (Nope). For his three most recent collaborations with Nolan, van Hoytema employed a pioneering combination of IMAX and 65mm large-format film cameras to complete filming. Van Hoytema received his first Academy Award nomination for his work on Dunkirk, in addition to BAFTA and American Society of Cinematographers award nominations.

Photography by Ramon van Flymen

George C. Wolfe

Storyteller Award

This award was presented as part of the Gala Screening Rustin.

Renowned director, producer, and writer George C. Wolfe is one of America's most important and influential cultural voices. Originally a playwright, Wolfe has won five Tony Awards and directed 17 Broadway productions over his distinguished career, including Jelly's Last Jam, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, and Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk. In 2005, Wolfe made his directorial film debut with the HBO film Lackawanna Blues, winning a DGA Award, four NAACP Image Awards, and a National Board of Review Award. His other film credits include Nights in Rodanthe, You're Not You, and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. In 2020, he directed the Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe Award-winning Ma Rainey's Black Bottom for Netflix. Wolfe most recently directed Rustin for Netflix and former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground. Wolfe previously served on the President's Committee for the Arts and Humanities and is chief creative officer for the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta.

Photography by Chris Buck

Chloe Coleman

Breaking Big Honoree

This award was presented as part of Entertainment Weekly's Breaking Big Panel.

By the age of 14, Los Angeles native Chloe Coleman has already worked opposite some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Of African, Eastern European, and English descent, Coleman brings to her grounded performances an inexhaustible athletic ability, contagiously good spirits, and a keenly perceptive mind for her age. Coleman is best known for her roles in HBO's Emmy Award-winning series Big Little Lies and the Amazon film My Spy, where she starred alongside Dave Bautista. Her other film and TV credits include Gunpowder Milkshake, Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made, Upload, Marry Me, and Avatar: The Way of Water. Coleman most recently starred in the sci-fi thriller 65 opposite Adam Driver and the fantasy Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Her upcoming roles include the Netflix film Pain Hustlers and the My Spy sequel My Spy: The Eternal City. When not acting, Coleman attends a high school and maintains honor roll status. In her spare time, she enjoys drawing, writing stories, creating animation characters, playing games with friends, and singing on the piano or ukulele.

Aria Mia Loberti

Breaking Big Honoree

This award was presented as part of Entertainment Weekly's Breaking Big Panel.

Actor, writer, Fulbright Scholar, and human rights advocate Aria Mia Loberti is the star of All the Light We Cannot See, Netflix's adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Loberti landed the role after a global search for blind and low-vision actresses, besting thousands of other submissions despite no formal acting training. A doctoral candidate at Penn State University, Loberti's academic work is especially meaningful to her. She has spent her life advocating for her own educational rights and access, first speaking out for disability rights as a 4-year-old. She has since presented at several large forums, including a TEDx Talk in 2018, and now also advocates for gender and disability parity. Loberti also serves as the new ambassador for the organization Guide Dogs for the Blind, a position previously held by the iconic Betty White.

Taylor Zakhar Perez

Breaking Big Honoree

This award was presented as part of Entertainment Weekly's Breaking Big Panel.

With his dynamic and versatile acting ability, Taylor Zakhar Perez has quickly emerged as one of Hollywood's most notable talents. He most recently starred in Red, White & Royal Blue, Amazon's film adaptation of the New York Times bestselling novel of the same name, opposite Nicholas Galitzine and Uma Thurman. In his portrayal of Alex Claremont-Diaz, Zakhar Perez delivered a compelling performance that not only captured the essence of the character but also received widespread acclaim, further solidifying his reputation as a powerhouse performer. His previous credits include the second and third installments of The Kissing Booth franchise, the HBO Max series Minx, and the Buzzfeed Studios film 1Up. A Chicago native, Zakhar Perez began his career at an early age performing musical theater in opera houses, which led him to film and TV projects. A proud UCLA alumnus, Zakhar Perez was also distinguished as a nationally ranked swimmer.

Maddie Ziegler

Breaking Big Honoree

This award was presented as part of Entertainment Weekly's Breaking Big Panel.

One of Gen Z's most celebrated actors and dancers, Maddie Ziegler can most recently be seen the coming-of-age "traumedy" Fitting In, which premiered at SXSW and screened at the Toronto International Film Festival as part of their Centrepiece program. An internationally recognized dancer who is famously known as the muse to pop icon Sia, Ziegler has starred in several music videos for the singer — including for the hit song "Chandelier," which has attracted more than five billion views. Ziegler also appeared in the Lifetime docuseries Dance Moms. Ziegler's film and TV credits include The Book of Henry, Leap!, Pretty Little Liars, and Austin & Ally. In 2021, she starred in Megan Park's directorial debut The Fallout alongside Shailene Woodley and Jenna Ortega, which earned the Grand Jury Award and the Audience Award at SXSW that year. Ziegler most recently wrapped production on Park's sophomore feature My Old Ass, where she will star opposite Aubrey Plaza. In addition to acting and dancing, Ziegler has also expanded her résumé to include model, fashion designer, and New York Times bestselling author with the publication of her memoir The Maddie Diaries.