EXCLUSIVE: Continuing a great year, Ethan Hawke is getting yet another honor.
The Best Actor Oscar nominee will receive the American Riviera Award next month at the 41st annual Santa Barbara Film Festival.
Hawke will receive the award February 6 during an in-person conversation celebrating his remarkable career, culminating in his performance in Blue Moon. In the film, Hawke delivers one of the his most transformative performances playing Lorenz Hart, earning his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and his fifth Oscar nomination overall.
The film marks Hawke’s ninth collaboration with filmmaker Richard Linklater and has garnered widespread critical acclaim, along with BAFTA, SAG, Golden Globe, Critics Choice and Gotham Award nominations. The SBIFF conversation will be moderated by TCM’s Dave Karger.
“Ethan is a greatly admired, versatile and risk-taking artist who has always gravitated toward complex roles. It has been a thrill over the past 40 years to watch this remarkable performer mature from a young heartthrob into one of America’s greatest character actors. In film, in theater, and as a director, Ethan is a powerhouse,” SBIFF executive director Roger Durling said.
The American Riviera Award was established to recognize actors who have made a significant contribution to American cinema. Previous recipients include 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.
Over the past four decades, Hawke has established himself as one of the most versatile actors working today. An actor, writer, director and producer, he has earned his five Academy Award nominations for both his performances and his screenwriting. He is also currently receiving strong reviews for his starring and executive producing role in FX’s The Lowdown, named one of AFI’s Television Programs of the Year.
Hawke’s body of work includes acclaimed performances in Training Day, Boyhood, First Reformed, Showtime’s limited series The Good Lord Bird, plus Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Gattaca, Reality Bites, Maudie, The Northman, Sinister, The Purge, The Black Phone, Leave the World Behind, Great Expectations, White Fang, Marvel’s Moon Knight, Pedro Almodóvar’s short film Strange Way of Life and the celebrated Before trilogy (Before Sunrise and its sequels Before Sunset and Before Midnight), for which he received two writing Oscar nominations alongside his collaborators Julie Delpy and Linklater.
As a filmmaker, he has directed the narrative features Chelsea Walls, The Hottest State, Blaze and Wildcat, as well as documentaries including Seymour: An Introduction and The Last Movie Stars. A Tony Award nominee for Tom Stoppard’s The Coast of Utopia, Hawke has maintained an active stage career alongside his film and TV work and is also a bestselling author.
The 41st Santa Barbara Film Festival will take place February 4-14, 2026. Other recently announced tributes include Michael B. Jordan (Outstanding Performer of the Year Award); Adam Sandler (Maltin Modern Master Award;, Stellan Skarsgård (Montecito Award); Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro (Hammond Cinema Vanguard Award); Kate Hudson (Arlington Artist of the Year Award); and the Virtuosos Award honoring Jacob Elordi, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Chase Infiniti, Amy Madigan, Wunmi Mosaku, Wagner Moura, Sydney Sweeney, Teyana Taylor and Jeremy Allen White.
English (US) ·