Hollywood Fest to Honor Zach Galifianakis and Jennifer Lawrence at the Hollywood Awards Gala

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Oct. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The 14th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Awards, presented by Starz, are pleased to announce that the star of "Due Date" Zach Galifianakis will receive the "Hollywood Comedy Actor Award" and actress Jennifer Lawrence will be recognized with the "New Hollywood Award," at the Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony.

The announcement was made today by Carlos de Abreu, Founder of the Hollywood Awards Gala.

Previously announced honorees for this year's Hollywood Awards Gala include: Sean Penn for the "Humanitarian Award"; Sylvester Stallone for the "Career Achievement Award"; Annette Bening for the "Actress Award"; Robert Duvall for the "Actor Award"; Helena Bonham Carter for the "Supporting Actress Award"; Sam Rockwell for the "Supporting Actor Award"; Andrew Garfield for the "Breakthrough Actor Award"; Mia Wasikowska for the "Breakthrough Actress Award"; Morgan Freeman and Lorie McCreary for the "Innovator Award"; Danny Boyle and Chris Colson for the "Producer Award"; Tom Hooper for the "Director Award"; Aaron Sorkin for the "Screenwriter Award"; Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story 3" and director Lee Unkrich for the "Animation Award"; Hans Zimmer for "Film Composer Award"; Wally Pfister for "Cinematographer Award"; Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall for the "Editor Award"; Paramount Pictures' "Iron Man 2" and visual effects supervisors Ben Snow and Janek Sirrs for the "Visual Effects Award"; and Robert Stromberg for "Production Designer Award."

ABOUT ZACH GALIFIANAKIS

Zach Galifianakis will soon be seen in Todd Phillips' "Due Date," co-starring Robert Downey Jr.. He moved to New York City after failing his last college course by one point at North Carolina State University. He got his start performing his brand of humor in the back of a hamburger joint in Times Square, graduating to doing stand-up at night in clubs and coffee houses in the city. While working as a busboy, he got his first acting job on the NBC sitcom "Boston Common."

Galifianakis' breakout role came in Todd Phillips' blockbuster hit "The Hangover," the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time. He will reunite with Phillips and castmates Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Justin Bartha in "Hangover 2," slated for a 2011 release.

He also stars in "It's Kind of a Funny Story," which premiered at the 2010 Toronto Film Festival. Recently, he also co-starred with Steve Carell and Paul Rudd in Jay Roach's comedy "Dinner for Schmucks." Galifianakis' additional film credits include the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced hit "G-Force"; the indie feature "Youth in Revolt," with Michael Cera, Steve Buscemi and Ray Liotta; a cameo in Jason Reitman's Oscar®-nominated film "Up in the Air"; "What Happens in Vegas," with Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher; and the critically acclaimed true-life drama "Into the Wild," from director Sean Penn.

ABOUT JENNIFER LAWRENCE

A natural talent with a striking presence and undeniable energy, Jennifer Lawrence is one of Hollywood's most promising young actresses. She was most recently seen in Debra Granik's "Winter's Bone" for which she won the Best Actress Award at the Seattle International Film Festival and The Blue Angel Award for Best Female Performance at the Bratislava Film Festival for her role.

Lawrence will next be seen in "The Beaver," directed by Jodie Foster who also stars, and alongside Mel Gibson and Anton Yelchin. She is currently in production on Matthew Vaughn's "X-Men: First Class" starring as Mystique, and recently wrapped production on Drake Doremus' "Like Crazy" and Mark Tonderai's "House at the End of the Street." Lawrence starred in Guillermo Arriaga's directorial debut "The Burning Plain," which premiered at the 65th Venice Film Festival where she won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actress or Actor.

She also starred in Lori Petty's "Poker House" for which she was awarded the prize of 'Outstanding Performance in the Narrative Competition' at the 2008 Los Angeles Film Festival.

The festival and awards will mark their return on October 20 for a week long series of screenings, competitions and awards. The Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony will take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on October 25, 2010.

The festival and awards presenter is Starz Entertainment, LLC, a premium movie service provider operating in the United States. It offers 16 movie channels including the flagship Starz® and Encore® brands with approximately 15.8 million and 28.2 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs more than 1,000 movies per month across its pay TV channels and offers advanced services including Starz HD, Starz On Demand and Vongo(SM). Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation that is attributed to Liberty Capital Group.

For more information go to http://www.hollywoodfestival.com  

SOURCE Hollywood Awards Gala