Alicia Vikander, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Géza Röhrig have been added to the roster of Virtuosos Award honorees at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, SBIFF organizers announced on Thursday.
The three new honorees bring to seven the number of breakthrough actors who will be part of the tribute on Saturday, Feb. 6, at the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara. Previously, the festival announced that Elizabeth Banks, Joel Edgerton, Paul Dano and Jacob Tremblay would be honored.
In 2015, Vikander narrated one film and appeared in four others, notably “The Danish Girl” and “Ex Machina.” Jackson portrayed his father, Ice Cube, in “Straight Outta Compton.” Röhrig played the lead role in the Holocaust drama “Son of Saul,” in which he is onscreen for virtually the entire running time, usually in closeup.
“These performers have used their craft and respective roles to transport us through the varied lives of their characters,” said festival director Roger Durling in a statement. “We have followed them along their artistic pursuits and are excited to join them in next steps of their journeys.”
The Virtuosos Award annually singles out performers who have had major breakthroughs in the previous year, with past recipients including Chadwick Boseman, David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike, J.K. Simmons, Eddie Redmayne, Quvenzhané Wallis, Demian Bichir, Rooney Mara, Shailene Woodley and Carey Mulligan.
Because the tribute takes place just as Oscar voting is about to begin, the Virtuosos Award evening is typically a campaign stop of sorts for nominees. That can also cause problems for the festival, which selects its honorees before nominations are announced: Two years ago, for example, three of the seven Virtuosos honorees were no-shows after failing to land Oscar nominations.
(Brie Larson and Michael B. Jordan, however, weren’t nominated but did show up.)
The 31st Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival begins on Feb. 3 and runs through Feb. 13 in the coastal town north of Los Angeles.
