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Filmmaker Ava DuVernay is set to receive Casting Society's Lynn Stalmaster Award for Career Achievement on March 7, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
CSA president Destiny Lilly said in a statement, “Ava DuVernay is a visionary storyteller in the world of filmmaking, a huge champion for casting professionals and an incredible collaborator in the casting process.”
“Her passion for inclusive and representative casting throughout her impactful career has made her a leader in the industry, and we are thrilled to honor her with the Lynn Stalmaster Award at this year’s ceremony,” she added.
DuVernay stated, “In my film Origin, the process of casting became the primary brushstroke on the canvas. Working with my casting director Aisha Coley to surround our leading lady Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor was a joy and a thrill. Each of the actors in the Origin ensemble are stellar in their experience, energy, intellect and enthusiasm. They are the latest in a series of extraordinary casts that I’ve had the great honor of guiding over the years. To be recognized for those efforts by this esteemed organization is a true gift for which I’m abundantly grateful.”
Academy Award-nominee DuVernay's other film and TV credits are 2014's Selma, 2018 live-action adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, 2019 Netflix limited series When They See Us and 2016's OWN drama Queen Sugar.
Ava DuVernay's sets film record
For Selma, the filmmaker became the first African-American woman to be nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Director and an Academy Award for Best Picture. The movie featured Martin Luther King, Jr.'s iconic voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. An upcoming biopic about the civil rights leader is set to be produced and directed by Chris Rock.
The director also won a Peabody Institutional Award through her production and distribution company ARRAY, formerly the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement or AFFRM. The company focuses on distributing films created by women and people of color.
DuVernay is also a member of the Film Academy's board of governors, representing directors. She is also a vice president of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and sits on the advisory board of the American Film Institute (AFI) as well as having served on the Cannes and Mumbai Film Festivals' juries.
The Casting Society's Lynn Stalmaster Award for Career Achievement will be awarded at the Artios Awards ceremony. The Artios Awards was first held in 1985 and honors casting professionals from the film, TV, commercial and theater industries.
Lynn Stalmaster was the first casting director to receive an Academy Award, an honorary Oscar, which he received in 2016. Previous recipients of the Casting Society's career achievement award were Annette Bening (2017), Laura Dern (2018) and Geena Davis (2020).
