The Newport Beach Film Festival has revealed the outstanding names to be honoured in this year’s Icon and Artists of Distinction categories ahead of next week’s UK and Ireland Honours event, hosted by Nick Mohammed and Edith Bowman. 

This year, the Icon Award will be presented to legendary comedian and actor Jennifer Saunders. With a career spanning over 40 years, Saunders’ contribution to the British film and television industry is unparalleled. The Icon Award is the most prestigious award issued at the event, with previous recipients including Sir Stephen Fry, Bill Nighy, Lesley Manville, Richard E. Grant and Sir Patrick Stewart.

The BAFTA Award winning and BAFTA fellow Jennifer Saunders is a titan of the British film and television industry, with her iconic roles in seminal sitcom Absolutely Fabulous (pictured) and sketch comedy series French and Saunders, with collaborator Dawn French. In addition, Saunders has starred in global blockbusters such as Shrek, Sing and Death on the Nile as well as Richard Eyre’s feature film Allelujah! and Harlan Coben’s Netflix series The Stranger amongst many other projects, cementing her place in the global film and television industry. Saunders can next be seen in the much anticipated upcoming blockbuster from Neal Street Productions, The Magic Faraway Tree, where she will play the role of Grandma Thompson.

Meanwhile, the Artist of Distinction award honours established talent whose work has made a significant impact on the UK and Ireland entertainment industry over several years. The honourees for this category are Jack O’Connell, Sam Claflin, Shirley Henderson, Sophie Turner and Timothy Spall,

O’Connell has featured in films including the recent 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Sinners and Back to Black for which he was nominated for a BAFTA. Claflin has led iconic films, series and franchises including Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Love, Rosie and Daisy Jones and the Six which he was nominated for a Golden Globe. With a career spanning over 30 years, Henderson has become a mainstay of British film and television, with iconic roles in Bridget Jones, Trainspotting and Wild Child, as well as her recent turn in the BAFTA award nominated film I Swear. SAG and Emmy award nominated Turner’s career has seen her tackle roles from the infamous Sansa Stark on Game of Thrones and Jean Grey in X-Men, to Lara Croft in the upcoming adaptation of Tomb Raider. BAFTA award winner Spall is a veteran of the British film and television industry with career highlights including his roles in the Harry Potter franchise, Mr Turner and Enchanted. 

President & CEO of Visit Newport Beach, Gary Sherwin and CEO of Newport Beach Film Festival, Gregg Schwenk said: “We are thrilled to announce the latest list of honourees for this year’s Newport Beach Film Festival UK and Ireland Honours event: Jennifer Saunders is a true industry titan of the industry  and national treasure in the UK, and this year’s Artists of Distinction, Jack O’Connell, Sam Claflin, Shirley Henderson, Sophie Turner and Timothy Spall have all established long running, diverse successful careers. This year’s honourees exemplify the exceptionally high standard of work coming out of the UK and Ireland, and we can’t wait to celebrate them at this year’s ceremony.”

This latest raft of talent will be feted alongside previously announced honourees including Archie Madekwe, Harry Melling, Jay Lycurgo and Noah Jupe in the Breakout category, and Spotlight artists Damson Idris and Wunmi Mosaku.

Variety’s list of ‘10 Brits to Watch’ has also been announced this week, featuring Miriam Battye, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Charly Clive, Nell Fisher, Caleb Azumah-Nelson, Archie Pearch, Imran Perretta, Miriam Petche, Mark Rosenblatt and Alfie Williams.

2026 marks the ninth year of the Newport Beach Film Festival’s UK and Ireland Honours event. Last year’s ceremony, hosted by Edith Bowman and Cat Deeley, saw an exciting range of talent honoured, including Marisa Abela, David Jonsson, Joe Alwyn, Will Sharpe, Sharon Horgan, Emma Corrin and Felicity Jones, with Sir Stephen Fry receiving the prestigious Icon award.

For 27 years, the Newport Beach Film Festival, one of the largest luxury lifestyle film festivals in the United States, has included a dedicated UK showcase during its eight-day programme. In 2015, the Film Festival and Visit Newport Beach partnered to elevate the connection to the UK industry by honouring talent via the Newport Beach Film Festival UK Honours.

Other posts by :

1. Starlink: 10m customers and counting
2. SES predicts end of ‘big’ Geo satellites
3. Amazon Leo gets approval for 4,504 extra satellites
4. SpaceX gets a portion of India
5. TerreStar wants to build LEO network
6. Musk: “No Starlink phone”
7. Russia accused of eavesdropping on satellites
8. FCC welcomes Musk’s 1m satellite plan
9. Telesat has problems with an LEO

Categories: Press Releases

Tags: absolutely fabulous, film, game of thrones, Harry Potter, UK