Denzel Washington To Receive ASC Board Of Governors Award

The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) will present actor/producer/director Denzel Washington with the org's Board of Governors Award during the 31st annual  ASC Awards.  The event will take place February 4, 2017 at Hollywood & Highland’s Ray Dolby Ballroom. The organization presents the accolade to individuals in the industry whose body of work has made significant and indelible contributions to cinema. It is the only ASC Award not given to a cinematographer, and is presented to filmmakers who have been champions for directors of photography and the visual art form.

Washington has starred in over 50 films and television shows, in addition to starring turns on stage. He received his first Academy Award® for the historical war drama Glory (1989) and a second for the crime thriller Training Day (2001).Washington made his directorial debut in 2002 with the feature Antwone Fisher, which he followed with 2007's  The Great Debaters. His current project is the critically acclaimed film Fences, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by August Wilson. In addition to producing and directing the movie, Washington reprises his original Tony Award®-winning role alongside Viola Davis.

"Denzel Washington is an amazing director and actor, and a conscious force in these challenging times," notes ASC President Kees van Oostrum. "A true artist is empowered by the era they live in, and he expresses an awareness of the world around us through his work. It is that strength of character that we honor with the ASC Governors Award."

Washington is a recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented to him at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards earlier this year. He received a Golden Globe nomination yesterday for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture–Drama for Fences.

Previous recipients of the ASC Board of Governors Award include Ridley Scott, Barbra Streisand, Harrison Ford, Julia Roberts, Christopher Nolan, Warren Beatty, Francis Ford Coppola, Sally Field, Morgan Freeman, Ron Howard, Sydney Pollack, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, among many others.

For more information about the ASC and the ASC Awards, visit www.theasc.com