The Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated director Ava DuVernay was honored recently by the SAG-AFTRA Foundation. DuVernay, a writer, producer, director and entrepreneur who has made a positive impact on the performing arts, received the organization’s Patron of the Artists Award, which was presented to her by actor David Oyelowo.
Actors Jennifer Aniston and Mark Ruffalo were also honored at the event which took place at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills and included an opening performance by Cynthia Erivo who sang “Stand Up” from her film “Harriet”.
Other celebrity guests in attendance included: Angela Bassett, SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris, Clyde Kusatsu, Sharon Lawrence, Jason Lewis, Camryn Manheim, Esai Morales, Lesley Nicol, Susan Sullivan, Emeraude Toubia, Aonika Thomas, Sean Patrick Thomas, Diane Warren, and Kevin Zegers.
Now in its 4th year, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s Patron of the Artists Awards is an annual benefit for the nonprofit’s programs which provide aid to artists facing life-threatening illness or economic hardship, free educational resources and workshops for performers, and free children’s literacy programs worldwide.
Check out pictures from the event below:
By Samantha Ofole-Prince/ Photos by Getty Images for SAG-AFTRA Foundation
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