Angelina Jolie to receive humanitarian award from Oscars academy
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is to give a prestigious humanitarian award to Hollywood A-lister Angelina Jolie for her "impassioned" campaigning work, the Oscar-bestowing body announced.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is to give a prestigious humanitarian award to Hollywood A-lister Angelina Jolie for her "impassioned" campaigning work, the Oscar-bestowing body announced.
The academy's board of governors will also give honorary lifetime awards to veteran actors Steve Martin and Angela Lansbury, as well as Italian costume designer Piero Tosi, whose work includes the 1971 classic Death in Venice.
Jolie, who won the best supporting actress Oscar in 2000 for her role in Girl, Interrupted, has been an "impassioned advocate for humanitarian causes, traveling widely to promote organisations and social justice efforts", the academy said on Thursday.
The actress, whose partner is Brad Pitt and who announced in May that she had undergone a double mastectomy to reduce her high risk of breast cancer, has staked out "a career at the nexus of entertainment and philanthropy", it said.
Jolie was named a special envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees last year after 12 years of service, it noted.
She will be given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award; previous recipients include Jeffrey Katzenberg, Oprah Winfrey, Jerry Lewis, Sherry Lansing, Arthur Miller, Quincy Jones, Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor.