Amy Adams, David Cronenberg to Receive TIFF Tribute Awards at 49th Toronto International Film Festival, Sandra Oh Named Honorary Chair

Cameron Bailey, CEO, TIFF, today announced the first honourees of this year’s Tribute Awards: Oscar-nominated actor Amy Adams, who will receive the TIFF Tribute Performer Award; and iconic Canadian filmmaker and screenwriter David Cronenberg, who will be recognized with the Norman Jewison Career Achievement Award. Sandra Oh, the award-winning Korean Canadian actor and producer, will serve as the inaugural Tribute Awards Honorary Chair.

The sixth annual Tribute Awards will take place on Sunday, September 8 at Fairmont Royal York Hotel and honors the film industry’s outstanding contributors and their achievements, serving as a kick-off to awards season. The 49th Toronto International Film Festival takes place September 5–15, 2024. 

“In the five years that TIFF has been honouring such standout talent as Joaquin Phoenix, Michelle Yeoh, Jessica Chastain, Chloe Zhao, Taika Waititi, and Ari Wegner on their road to further awards success, we’ve been inspired to watch our Tribute Awards gala grow into a must-attend event,” said Bailey. “This year, we’re thrilled to welcome the incomparable Sandra Oh as the inaugural honorary Chair of the 2024 Tribute Awards. She joins our first-announced honourees, Amy Adams and David Cronenberg, in what promises to be another singular, sparkling night during the Festival. We’re grateful that artists of this stature will gather in Toronto to help TIFF turn the spotlight on increasing inclusion throughout our industry.”

The Tribute Awards gala is TIFF’s largest annual fundraiser. In 2024, proceeds from the Awards will go towards TIFF’s Every Story Fund, which champions diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in film.

Adams returns to the Festival this year for the World Premiere of Marielle Heller’s dark comedy Nightbitch, and  is being recognized for her outstanding body of work. Past recipients of the TIFF Tribute Performer Award are Colman Domingo and Vicky Krieps in 2023; Brendan Fraser and the ensemble cast of My Policeman in 2022; Jessica Chastain and Benedict Cumberbatch in 2021; Kate Winslet and Sir Anthony Hopkins in 2020; and Meryl Streep and Joaquin Phoenix in 2019.

Six-time academy award nominated actress, Amy Adams will next be seen starring in the film, Nightbitch, an adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s acclaimed debut novel of the same name. Adams also serves as a producer on the film via her production company, Bond Group Entertainment. Recently, Adams can be seen starring in the film Disenchanted, the sequel to her 2007 blockbuster hit, Enchanted, for Disney+. Prior, Adams made her West End debut starring in an evocative production of Tennessee Williams’ beloved memory play, The Glass Menagerie. Adams also starred in Adam McKay’s 2018 film, Vice, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination, SAG nomination, Critics’ Choice Nomination, BAFTA Nomination, and an Academy Award Nomination. Additionally, she starred in HBO’s high-profile drama series, Sharp Objects, in which she also executive produced. She won a Critics’ choice award for her role and was nominated for a Golden Globe, SAG, and Emmy for her performance. Adams recently wrapped production on the Sony film Klara and the Sun, from director Taika Waititi. The film is based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s New York Times–bestselling novel. It was recently announced that Adams will star in At the Sea, a new drama from Kornel Mundruczó and Kata Wéber. Adams is represented by WME, Linden Entertainment, Narrative, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.

The Norman Jewison Career Achievement Award, presented this year to David Cronenberg, recognizes Canadians in the film industry who have made a global impact with their careers. The filmmaker’s willingness to explore unconventional themes and his innovative storytelling continues to shape contemporary cinema worldwide. Producer-director Shawn Levy received the inaugural award in 2023.

Filmmaker David Cronenberg’s reputation as an authentic auteur has been firmly established by his uniquely personal body of work which includes Shivers, Rabid, Fast Company, The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome, The Fly, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, Crash, eXistenz, The Dead Zone, M. Butterfly, Spider, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, A Dangerous Method, Cosmopolis, Maps to the Stars, Crimes of the Future, and The Shrouds. Cronenberg has developed a dramatic oeuvre of outstanding depth and breadth, and consequently has been lauded as one of the world’s most influential filmmakers. His wider creative pursuits have included curation of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Andy Warhol/Supernova: Stars, Deaths and Disasters, 1962-1964 exhibition in 2006; staging an opera of The Fly in 2008; and penning his first novel, Consumed, in 2014. As an actor, Cronenberg has given notable performances of late in Alias Grace, Disappearance at Clifton Hill, and Star Trek: Discovery. Recognition of Cronenberg’s contribution to art and culture has included an appointment as an Officer to the Order of Canada in 2003, a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2014, investiture in France’s Order of Arts and Letters in 1990 and the Légion d’Honneur in 2009.

A prolific actor of the screen and the stage, Sandra Oh’s career spans over 30 years. Hailing from Ottawa, Canada, Oh appeared in her first play The Canada Goose at age 10. After three years at the National Theatre School of Canada, she landed the title role in the CBC film The Diary of Evelyn Lau (Gemini nomination/Best Actress and the Cannes FIPA d’Or for Best Actress). Oh is currently starring in the Off-Broadway production of The Welkin at New York’s The Atlantic Theatre; the Hulu comedy film Quiz Lady, opposite Awkwafina, which had its World Premiere at TIFF in 2023; and the HBO/A24 limited series adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Sympathizer. She will next star in director Anne Marie Fleming’s Can I Get a Witness. Her film credits include: Sideways, Double Happiness, Under The Tuscan Sun, The Princess Diaries, Dancing at the Blue Iguana, Last Night, Catfight, Defendor, Blindness, The Night Listener, For Your Consideration, Long Life Happiness and Prosperity, Sorry Hater, Ramona and Beezus, The Red Violin, and The Same Storm. Animated film credits include the Toronto-set Turning Red, Over The Moon, Raya and the Last Dragon, Window Horses, and The Tiger’s Apprentice. Television credits: 10 seasons as Dr. Cristina Yang on Grey’s Anatomy (Golden Globe Award/SAG Award/Emmy nominations), The Chair (also Executive Produced), and four seasons of Killing Eve (also Executive Produced, Golden Globe Award/SAG Award/Critics Choice Award/Emmy Award nominations), Arli$$ (HBO), and Thorne: Scaredy Cat (UK).