EXCLUSIVE: Adam Driver, who is seemingly everywhere this year, at least on screen and stage, has been chosen to receive this year’s Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor to be presented at the fest’s star studded awards gala on Thursday January 2nd at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

Driver has won high praise for his performances in Amazon Studio’s The Report as well as Netflix’s Marriage Story. Today moviegoers are lining up to see his final turn as Kyro Ren in Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker. He also was seen earlier this year in Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, and was Tony-nominated on Broadway last Spring for his role in Burn This. He is currently nominated for SAG, Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice awards for Marriage Story, for which he also kicked off the season winning a Gotham Award.

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“This has been a career year for Adam Driver with an award-winning role in Marriage Story, and solid performances in The Report and Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker,” said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “In Marriage Story, Adam Driver brings raw human emotions in his portrayal of a man going through an acrimonious divorce in this powerful and moving story. For this outstanding performance, we are honored to present the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor to Adam Driver.”

Past actor recipients of the Desert Palm Achievement Award include Casey Affleck, Jeff Bridges, Bradley Cooper, Daniel Day-Lewis, Colin Firth, Matthew McConaughey, Gary Oldman, Sean Penn, Brad Pitt and Eddie Redmayne. In the years they were honored, Affleck, Bridges, Day-Lewis, McConaughey, Oldman, Penn and Redmayne went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, while Cooper, Firth and Pitt received Oscar nominations.

Driver joins this year’s previously announced honorees Antonio Banderas (International Star Award, Actor), Laura Dern (Career Achievement Award), Cynthia Erivo (Breakthrough Performance Award), Zack Gottsagen (Rising Star Award), Jennifer Lopez (Spotlight Award), Joaquin Phoenix (Chairman’s Award), Martin Scorsese (Sonny Bono Visionary Award), Charlize Theron (International Star Award, Actress) and Renée Zellweger (Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress).

The Palm Springs International Film Festival runs from January 2-13.