Danielle Deadwyler to receive Breakthrough Performance Award at Palm Springs film awards

Danielle Deadwyler will receive the Breakthrough Performance Award, Actress, for her role in the film "Till" at the Palm Springs International Film Awards.

The Film Awards will take place in person on Jan. 5 at the Palm Springs Convention Center, with the Palm Springs International Film Festival running through Jan. 16. The 2022 festival was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Till," directed by Chinonye Chukwu, tells the traumatic and tragic true story of the lynching of 15-year-old Emmett Till for whistling at a white woman in Money, Mississippi, in 1955. The film, told through the eyes of his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, played by Deadwyler, recounts how the world witnessed the horror of her son's brutally maimed body in an open casket, helping to propel the Civil Rights Movement and making her a revolutionary figure. The film also stars Whoopi Goldberg, Jalyn Hall, Roger Guenveur Smith, Haley Bennett, Jayme Lawson and Tosin Cole.

“'Till' tells the true story of the historic activist Mamie Till-Mobley’s heartbreaking fight to galvanize the civil-rights movement after her son, Emmett Till, was lynched in 1955. The riveting portrayal of Till-Mobley by Danielle Deadwyler is unquestionably moving and memorable,” Festival Chairman Harold Matzner said in a statement. “For this incredibly significant performance, we are honored to present the Breakthrough Performance Award, Actress, to Danielle Deadwyler.”

Deadwyler has performed in theatre and other performing arts since childhood and throughout her collegiate education, which provided the foundation for her professional career. She can currently be seen in the Netflix limited series "From Scratch" and HBO Max series "Station Eleven," which was recently nominated for a Critics Choice Award for Best Limited Series.

Her other recent credits include "The Harder They Fall," "The Devil to Pay," "The Haves and Have Nots" and "Watchmen." Deadwyler recently received the Gotham Award for Outstanding Lead Performance, the Critics Choice Association’s Celebration of Black Cinema & Television Actress Award for Film, the National Board of Review Breakthrough Performance Award, and she was recognized among Variety’s 10 Actors to Watch for 2021.

Past recipients of the Breakthrough Performance Award, Actress include Mary J. Blige, Marion Cotillard, Andra Day, Cynthia Erivo, Jennifer Hudson, Felicity Huffman, Brie Larson, Lupita Nyong’o and Rosamund Pike. In the years they were honored, Cotillard, Hudson, Larson, and Nyong'o went on to receive Academy Awards, while Day, Blige, Erivo, Huffman and Pike received nominations.

Deadwyler joins this year’s previously announced honorees: Cate Blanchett (Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress), Austin Butler (Breakthrough Performance Award, Actor), Viola Davis (Chairman’s Award), Colin Farrell (Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor), Bill Nighy (International Star Award, Actor), Sarah Polley (Director of the Year Award), Michelle Yeoh (International Star Award) and The Fabelmans (Vanguard Award).

Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at ema.sasic@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ema_sasic.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Danielle Deadwyler to receive Breakthrough Performance Award at Palm Springs film awards