Monday 14 December 2009
Julianne Moore
Moore, currently onscreen opposite fellow festival honoree Colin Firth in “A Single Man,” will receive the Montecito Award on Feb. 11 at the Arlington Theatre, 1317 State St., Santa Barbara.
The Montecito Award is given for a series of career standout performances, and Moore fits the bill. She’s received four Academy Award nominations for her work in “Boogie Nights,” “The End of the Affair,” “The Hours” and “Far From Heaven.” The latter two represent an Oscar rarity — nods for two acting roles in the same year (2002).
Roger Durling, the festival’s executive director, called the 49-year-old Moore “a cinematic treasure,” adding that her Oscar-nominated performances and other work are “the stuff of legend.”
The versatile Moore’s other credits include “I’m Not There,” “Children of Men,” “The Shipping News,” “Magnolia,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Vanya on 42nd Street,” “Short Cuts,” “Benny & Joon” and “The Fugitive.”
Previous Montecito Award recipients are Kate Winslet, Javier Bardem, Naomi Watts and Annette Bening.
Moore joins a star-studded list of celebrity honorees coming to the festival’s milestone 25th edition that includes Firth, Sandra Bullock, director James Cameron, Vera Farmiga, Stanley Tucci, Peter Sarsgaard and Christoph Waltz.
The 2010 Santa Barbara International Film Festival will run Feb. 4-14 at various venues around town. In addition to the celebrity tributes, the 11-day event typically screens more than 200 films, hosts several discussion panels and draws 60,000 to 70,000 people
n the one-hour special "Jennifer Hudson: I'll Be Home for Christmas," the Academy Award-winning singer and actress travels to Chicago to relive childhood Christmases at 8 p.m. on ABC.
Jennifer Hudson has plenty of reasons to celebrate this holiday season after another banner year for the singer-actress. After Hudson's mother, brother and nephew were tragically murdered in October 2008, she made a triumphant return to the spotlight in 2009. This past year, Hudson added Grammy winner to her resume, performed at the Super Bowl and toured the country for the first time. On top of her professional accomplishments, Hudson and fiancé David Otunga welcomed their first child, David Daniel Otunga Jr., in August. As the Oscar winner prepares for her first Christmas as a mother, Hudson, 28, will also star in her first ever Christmas special —Jennifer Hudson: I'll Be Home for Christmas — Monday at 8/7c on ABC. The self-proclaimed "Christmas fanatic" talked with TVGuide.com about returning to her hometown of Chicago, one of her favorite holiday traditions and how she plans to top herself in 2010.