Four Decades and an Odyssey, John Leguizamo Takes Career Honors at the Critics Choice Celebración
The Critics Choice Association salutes Leguizamo, Judy Reyes, Oscar Nuñez and a class of Latino and Hispanic talent tonight.
John Leguizamo will collect the Career Achievement Award tonight, October 2, at the sixth annual Critics Choice Celebración of Cinema & Television, held at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills. The event, formerly called the Celebration of Latino Cinema and Television, honors Latino and Hispanic work in front of and behind the camera.
The Critics Choice Association is saluting his more than four decades of film, television, comedy and theater, and his turn in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. According to the association, the film had the biggest live-action opening weekend of the year and passed $1 billion worldwide three weeks after release. Leguizamo is an Emmy winner, a Special Tony Award recipient and a four-time Tony nominee, with a run that stretches from Carlito’s Way and Romeo + Juliet through Moulin Rouge!, When They See Us and the Ice Age films.
He leads a deep class. Judy Reyes, of High Potential and the returning Scrubs, takes the Trailblazer Award. Oscar Nuñez, who plays Oscar Martinez again on Peacock’s The Paper, receives the Vanguard Award. Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, known as Los Javis, get the Director Award for La Bola Negra, which won them Best Director at Cannes.
The breakout names are strong too. Inde Navarrette is honored for the horror hit Obsession, which the association says earned $500 million worldwide. James Ortiz, the puppeteer and voice behind Rocky opposite Ryan Gosling in Project Hail Mary, receives the Innovator Award. Beth de Araújo, who won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at Sundance for Josephine, is the Breakthrough Director. Aimee Carrero, Laysla De Oliveira, Peter Dager and the producer Rodrigo Teixeira round out the list.
Clayton Davis, a Critics Choice member and the event’s co-programmer, hosts with fellow member Amanda Salas. “Latino and Hispanic storytellers keep creating from a place of joy and defiance, turning our histories and culture into art that moves the culture forward,” Davis said when the honorees were announced. Milagro Tequila pours the cocktails, and LatiNation Media co-hosts the after-party.
