John Malkovich will receive the Outstanding Performer of the Year Award at the 42nd annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Malkovich, a two-time Academy Award nominee, recently won Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival for his performance in Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine.
Malkovich will be honored for his acclaimed performance in the film, where it recently screened at the Venice, Telluride, and Toronto film festivals and will be released by Searchlight Pictures on November 6.
His performance was hailed by critics as a “tour de force” and one of the finest performances in his career. Malkovich stars alongside Sam Rockwell as a pair of CIA agents who travel from Santiago to Easter Island on the eve of the 1973 Chilean coup, where they confront their dark pasts and become entangled in present-day conspiracies.
Malkovich, an acclaimed actor, director, and producer, has had a distinguished career spanning five decades across film, television, and theater. He is a founding member of Chicago’s legendary Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and has won an Obie Award for his performance in True West and an Emmy Award for Death of a Salesman.
In his feature film debut in Places in the Heart, he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and received his second Oscar nomination for his performance alongside Clint Eastwood in In the Line of Fire.
The Outstanding Performer of the Year Award recognizes individuals who have distinguished themselves with exceptional performances in film. “A legendary actor gives this year in Wild Horse Nine his best performance to date in which he combines pathos, volatility, vulnerability, and tenderness,” said SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling. “It’s a high wire act that shows us that we are thrilled to be honoring him with our Outstanding Performer of the year award,” he added.
Malkovich has collaborated with many of cinema and theater’s celebrated artists throughout his career, including Steven Spielberg, Bernardo Bertolucci, Michelangelo Antonioni, Volker Schlöndorff, Manoel de Oliveira, Raúl Ruiz, Liliana Cavani, Stephen Frears, Joel and Ethan Coen, Spike Jonze and, most recently, McDonagh.
The 42nd Santa Barbara International Film Festival will take place from February 3 to February 13, 2027. The Outstanding Performer of the Year award will take place on Friday, February 12, 2027 at the Arlington Theatre. Official events including screenings, filmmaker Q&As, industry panels, and celebrity tributes will be held throughout the city. Passes for the 2027 festival are on sale now at sbiff.org.
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