Richard Gere to Receive the 'Hollywood Career Achievement Award', 10/22

The 16th ANNUAL HOLLYWOOD FILM AWARDS, presented by the Los Angeles Times, is pleased to announce that actor Richard Gere will be given the "Hollywood Career Achievement Award," at this year's awards gala.

"It is a privilege to honor and to celebrate Richard Gere's extraordinary talent and remarkable career with our 'Hollywood Career Achievement Award'," said Carlos de Abreu, Founder and Executive Director of the HOLLYWOOD FILM AWARDS.

The 2012 HOLLYWOOD FILM AWARDS has also announced that it will honor actor Bradley Cooper with the "Hollywood Actor Award"; Academy Award-nominated writer/director Quentin Tarantino with the "Hollywood Screenwriter Award"; Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, and John Goodman with the "Hollywood Ensemble Acting Award" for "Argo; director David O. Russell with the "Hollywood Director Award"; Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro with the "Hollywood Supporting Actor Award"; Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard with the "Hollywood Actress Award"; three-time Academy Award-nominated actress Amy Adams with the "Hollywood Supporting Actress Award"; producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner with the "Hollywood Producers Award"; writer/director Judd Apatow with the "Hollywood Comedy Award"; actor John Hawkes with the "Hollywood Breakout Performance Award" for "The Sessions"; and Quvenzhane Wallis with the "New Hollywood Award" for "Beasts of the Southern Wild."

Other honorees include cinematographer Wally Pfister, editor Dylan Tichenor, production designer Sarah Greenwood, and visual effects supervisor Jeff White. In addition, director Peter Ramsey's "Rise of the Guardians" will be honored with the "Hollywood Animation Award," along with additional honorees to be announced in the coming weeks.

The HOLLYWOOD FILM AWARDS Gala Ceremony will take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on October 22, 2012. The event honors cherished stars and up-and-coming talent, and traditionally kicks off the film awards season with the biggest stars and top industry executives in attendance.

"We are very proud to be the first stop of the awards season. In the last nine years, a total of 85 Oscar nominations and 32 Oscars were given to the honorees of the HOLLYWOOD FILM AWARDS," said de Abreu.

Last year's awards show reached a total TV audience of more than 41 million media impressions, in addition, more than 300 million online and print readers' impressions.

Aside from celebrating accomplishments on screen, the HOLLYWOOD FILM AWARDS established the "Hollywood Gives Back" program to expand and continue highlighting and assisting important local and national charities to raise funds. Over the years, the HOLLYWOOD FILM AWARDS has contributed to such charities as the following: The Art of Elysium, Artists For Human Rights, Artists for Peace and Justice, MatchingDonors.com, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, the Enough Project, and Variety The Children's Charity of So. CA, among others.

Further, the HOLLYWOOD FILM AWARDS selects individuals to be recipients of their "Hollywood Humanitarian Awards" in recognition of their contribution to the betterment of their communities or society at large. Prior recipients include Nobel Peace Prize winner and ex-President of East Timor, Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Laureate Jody Williams, Father Rick Frechette, and actor and activist Sean Penn.

About Richard Gere:

Actor and humanitarian Richard Gere can currently be seen starring in Nicholas Jarecki's "Arbitrage" opposite Susan Sarandon and Tim Roth. Gere is known for his diversity of roles, from his Golden Globe winning performance in "Chicago" to the critically acclaimed "Pretty Women," "An Officer and a Gentleman," "American Gigolo," and "Primal Fear." He was last seen in "Amelia" alongside Hilary Swank and Ewan McGregor and in Anton Fuqua's "Brooklyn's Finest," starring Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke. Other recent credits include "Nights in Rodanthe," "I'm Not There," "The Hoax," "The Hunting Party," "Shall We Dance," and "Bee Season."

Gere's motion picture debut was the Oscar-honored "Days of Heaven," for which he received the Italian equivalent of the Academy Award. In 1990, he received Box-office acclaim for his portrayal of a corrupt cop in "Internal Affairs." His earlier film credits include; "Unfaithful," "Mothman Prophecies," "Looking Mr. Goodbar," 'Blood Brothers," "Breathless," "Beyond the Limit," "The Cotton Club," "Power," "No Mercy, " "Yanks," "Looking" and "Miles From Home, "as well as the Box-office hit "Runaway Bride" and "Dr. T and the Women," directed by Robert Altman.

Gere's career was established with performances in the Broadway rock opera "Soon" and the New York production of the British farce, "Habeas Corpus." For the Broadway production of "Bent," he received the Theatre World Award.

Off screen Gere is an accomplished photographer, pianist and music writer. An outspoken human rights advocate, Gere is a student and friend of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

His first book, "Pilgrim," is a collection of images that represent his twenty-five year journey into Buddhism.

About the Los Angeles TimesL

The Los Angeles Times is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country, with a daily readership of 1.6 million and 2.7 million on Sunday, more than 16 million unique latimes.com visitors monthly and a combined print and online local weekly audience of 4.4 million. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Times has been covering Southern California for more than 130 years.

The Los Angeles Times Media Group (LATMG) businesses and affiliates include the Los Angeles Times, The Envelope, Times Community News and Hoy Los Angeles and reach approximately 5.2 million or 39% of all adults in the Southern California marketplace. LATMG also owns and operates California Community News, as well as Tribune Direct's west coast division and is part of Tribune Company, one of the country's leading media companies with businesses in publishing, the Internet and broadcasting. Additional information is available at http://latimes.com/aboutus.

About the HOLLYWOOD FILM AWARDS

The Hollywood Film Awards were created to honor excellence in the art of filmmaking, both in front of and behind the camera, and launch the awards season. The criteria is: recipients are selected to be honored for their body of work and/or a film(s) that is to be released between January 1 and December 31 by an advisory team. In addition, for the recipients of our "film awards craft categories" (aside from evaluating their body of work), our Advisory team takes into consideration the recommendation of their guilds/societies. Last year alone, our recipients received 12 nominations and 5 Oscars. In the last 9 years, a total of 85 Oscar nominations and 32 Oscars were given to our honorees.

The Hollywood Film Awards are presented in conjunction with Presenting Sponsor the Los Angeles Times, Premier sponsors ArcLight Cinemas and Hollywoodnews.com, exclusive Regional Print Media sponsor Los Angeles Confidential and trade Media sponsors the Hollywood Reporter and Variety. Special support is provided by American Cinema Editors - A.C.E., American Society of Cinematographers - A.S.C., The Art Directors Guild - A.D.G., The Casting Society of America - CSA, Celebrity Services, Costume Designers Guild - CDG, Columbia Pictures, Creative Artists Agency, DreamWorks SKG, Entertainment Tonight, Focus Features, Fox Searchlight, ICM, ILM, Motion Picture Editors Guild, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Classics, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., The Weinstein Company, WME. Getty Image is the Official Photography Agency.