Jamie Lee Curtis, the veteran actress who was born to two Hollywood movie stars — Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis — and then very much made her own name in the business, has been tapped to receive the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s highest honor, the Maltin Modern Master Award.
The 63-year-old, who won rave reviews for her performance in this year’s breakout hit Everything Everywhere All at Once, and who also starred in the recent blockbuster Halloween Ends, will be feted on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, at Santa Barbara’s historic Arlington Theatre following a career-retrospective interview conducted by her award’s namesake, film critic and historian Leonard Maltin.
“Jamie Lee Curtis has long proven that she has staying power,” Maltin said in a statement which noted that Curtis’ other memorable credits include earlier installments of the Halloween series, dating back to 1978, as well as Trading Places (1983), A Fish Called Wanda (1988), True Lies (1994), Freaky Friday (2003) and Knives Out (2019). “People want to watch her, whether it’s in a Halloween movie or an offbeat character role. She’s talented and charismatic, and in the process does her movie-star parents proud.”
The fest’s Modern Master Award was established in 1995 and was re-named the Maltin Modern Master Award in 2015. Past recipients include Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, Bill Murray, Brad Pitt, Glenn Close, Denzel Washington, Michael Keaton, Bruce Dern, Ben Affleck, Christopher Plummer, Christopher Nolan, James Cameron, Clint Eastwood, Cate Blanchett, Will Smith, George Clooney and Peter Jackson.
The 38th edition of SBIFF will run Feb. 8-18, 2023.
