Zoe Saldana will receive the Derek Malcolm Innovation Award at the 45th London Film Critics Circle Awards. Actress Emilia Perez becomes the second winner of the award, after Colman Domingo won the inaugural award last year.
The honor comes as Saldana is also competing in this year’s supporting actress category for Jacques Audiard’s musical drama “Emilia Perez.” Her career includes several major films including “Avatar,” “Star Trek” and “Guardians of the Galaxy,” with starring roles in four of the highest-grossing films of all time.
Saldana’s recent work includes producing and starring in the television series “Special Ops: Lioness” and “The Absence of Eden,” focusing on cross-border trafficking between the United States and Mexico. Earlier this year, she shared the Cannes Film Festival award for Best Actress with “Emilia Perez” co-stars Carla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz.
“I am honored and delighted to receive the Derek Malcolm Innovation Award from the London Film Critics Circle, a group for which I have great admiration and respect,” Saldana said. “This has been an incredible year for film with so many amazing, indelible roles for women. Having the opportunity to work in this industry for twenty-five years has been a privilege, and playing the role of Rita in ‘Emilia Perez’ has been the opportunity of a lifetime.”
Critics Circle President Rich Klein noted Saldana’s influence across genres, from the motion-capture work on “Avatar” to producing female-led novels.
Malcolm, a long-time member of the Critics Circle and a former chairman who died in 2023 aged 91, served as chief critic for The Guardian and The Evening Standard, and was a former director of the London Film Festival and a governor of the British Film Institute.
The awards, voted on by 208 British critics, cover films released in British cinemas or streaming platforms between mid-February 2024 and mid-February 2025. The winners are “Anora,” directed by Sean Baker, and “The Brutalist,” directed by Brady Corbett. , nominations this year, with seven nominations for each. .
The ceremony will be held on February 2 at the Mayfair Hotel in London. Hosted by critic Mark Kermode, it will be broadcast live on the Critics’ Circle YouTube channel.