Meryl Streep will receive the inaugural TIFF Tribute Actor Award at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF co-heads Joana Vicente and Cameron Bailey announced on Friday.
The award will be presented to Streep on Monday, September 9 at the Fairmont Royal York hotel during the 44th annual festival, which will also showcase Steven Soderbergh’s “The Laundromat,” in which Streep stars with Gary Oldman and Antonio Banderas.
Toronto gives out audience awards for its films every year, but it has not previously given out this kind of award to an actor or held an event like this year’s TIFF Tribute Gala. The gala will be used as the first in an annual fundraiser to support TIFF’s year-round programs. It will also present the inaugural TIFF Impact Award to Participant Media, whose chairman Jeff Skoll and CEO David Linde will accept the honor.
In addition, the gala will present the Mary Pickford Award to an emerging female talent, and will give out one additional Actor Award to a recipient to be named later.
The new TIFF award will be the latest addition to Streep’s stuffed trophy case, which also contains three Oscars, eight Golden Globes, an AFI Life Achievement Award, two BAFTA Awards, three Emmy Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, among others.
“Meryl Streep is undoubtedly one of the most talented and versatile actors of her generation,” said Vicente in a TIFF statement. “Her tremendous contribution to cinema, television, and the stage spans five decades; from her early roles in ‘The Deer Hunter,’ ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’ and ‘Sophie’s Choice’ to later films including ‘The Devil Wears Prada,’ ‘The Iron Lady’ and ‘The Post,’ she has portrayed characters that are as compelling as they are timeless.”
The festival will open on September 5 with a screening of the documentary “Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band,” and will run through September 15.