The TIFF Tribute Award for Performance would be presented to Brendan Fraser for his outstanding performance in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, which will have its North American Premiere at this year’s Festival, Cameron Bailey, CEO of TIFF has announced.
The TIFF Tribute Award for Performance is presented by IMDbPro.
in addition to presenting TIFF Short Cuts Awards, IMDbPro Celebrates its 20th anniversary in sponsoring this year’s TIFF Tribute Award for Performance.
The 2022 IMDbPro Short Cuts Awards are for Best Film, Best Canadian Film, and the Share Her Journey Award for best film by a woman.
Having received recognition for his work by both critics and his peers during his career spanning more than 30 years. Fraser is renowned for playing Rick O’Connell in The Mummy trilogy and has gone on to star in many projects in both television and film.
“Brendan Fraser gives a performance of staggering depth, power, and nuance in The Whale,” said Bailey, TIFF CEO. “This former Torontonian has been an action star, a screen comic, and a romantic lead. We’re thrilled to welcome him home as the actor behind one of the finest performances of the year.”
Based on the acclaimed play by Samuel D. Hunter, the A24 Darren Aronofsky’s film The Whale starring Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Ty Simpkins, and Samantha Morton tells the story of a reclusive English teacher living with severe obesity and her last attempt to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter.
The film is being distributed in Canada by Elevation Pictures.
Presented by IMDbPro, the TIFF Tribute Award for Performance being handed out to Fraser is one of two acting awards which recognize outstanding performance by either an individual or ensemble in the now gender-neutral acting category.
Fraser joins the recently announced recipients of the TIFF Tribute Award for Performance presented by Polestar, the ensemble of My Policeman.
Also joining the list of 2022 TIFF Tribute Award honourees Academy Award®–winning filmmaker Sam Mendes who will be receiving the TIFF Ebert Director Award.
Honoring the film industry’s outstanding contributors and their achievements, acting talent, directorial expertise, new talent, and a below-the-line artist and creator, the TIFF Tribute Awards’ past honourees have been Chastain, Hopkins, Phoenix, Roger Deakins, Taika Waititi, and Chloé Zhao going on to win awards on the international stage.
As TIFF’s largest annual fundraiser to support TIFF’s Every Story fund, the Awards gala event also serves to promot diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in film and TIFF’s core mission to transform the way people see the world through film. More information on the event and honourees will follow in the coming weeks.
Born in Indianapolis and raised in Europe and Canada, Brendan Fraser has been spending his career since the early age of 12, transitioning from smart independent films to action-packed blockbusters.
Besides his film and television work, Fraser also appeared at the Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in London, and in the West End production of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Starring in the comedy Elling, based on the Norwegian novels by Ingvar Ambjørnsen, he made his Broadway debut.
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