Colin Firth, Julianne Moore in A Single Man
Colin Firth, the star of Tom Ford's A Single Man, will receive the Santa Barbara International Film Festival's Outstanding Performance of the Year Award at Santa Barbara's Arlington Theatre on Feb.13, 2010.
In A Single Man, the 49-year-old Firth plays a grieving, gay college professor in the Los Angeles of the early 1960s. His lover (Matthew Goode) has just died and he is seriously considering ending his own life. Also in the cast: Julianne Moore and Nicholas Hoult.
Earlier this year, Firth won the best actor prize at the Venice Film Festival, and is one of the strongest contenders to land a best actor Academy Award nomination come next February.
Among Colin Firth's previous films are Another Country (1984), A Month in the Country (1987), Valmont (1989), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003), Love, Actually (2003), Mamma Mia! (2008), and Dorian Grey (2009).
Previous Outstanding Performance winners include Helen Mirren, Penelope Cruz and Heath Ledger.
The Santa Barbara Film Festival runs from Feb. 4-14.