On Sunday Jacki Weaver was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia. Today the Animal Kingdom and Silver Linings Playbook star was named the recipient of the AACTA Raymond Longford Award.
The actress joins the ranks of previous Longford honourees including directors George Miller, Fred Schepisi and Peter Weir, actors Jack Thompson, Geoffrey Rush and Ray Barrett and producers Tony Buckley, Al Clark, Jan Chapman, Patricia Lovell and Sue Milliken.
Weaver will receive the award, named after cinema pioneer Raymond Longford to recognise individuals who have made outstanding contributions to Australia’s screen culture, at the 3rd AACTA Awards ceremony on Thursday in Sydney.
Her career spans five decades. Her first major acting role was a stage production of Cinderella in 1964, when she was 15. A leading light of the Australian film renaissance, her credits include Stork (1971), Alvin Purple (1973) Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and Caddie (1976).
In her international breakthrough, she played crime matriarch ‘Smurf’ Cody in David Michôd’s 2010 thriller Animal Kingdom, for which she earned her first Oscar nomination.
Michôd said: “In the years since Animal Kingdom was released Jacki’s career has entered an extraordinary and richly deserved new chapter. In addition to her professional achievements Jacki is a delightful person and a wonderful ambassador for Australian screen culture.”
She made her Hollywood debut in The Five-Year Engagement, followed by Stoker with Nicole Kidman and Mia Wasikowska, David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook, for which she scored her second Oscar nomination, and Parkland.
Recently she starred in US horror movie Haunt with Harrison Gilberton, Woody Allen's Magic in the Moonlight with Colin Firth and Emma Stone, and Aussie director Alan White’s Puerto Rico-shot thriller Reclaim. She's just been cast in the pilot of the CBS comedy The McCarthys.
Alan Finney, AFI |AACTA Chair said, “I have had the pleasure of knowing Jacki for many years and consider her both a peer and a friend. Over the decades we have seen the Australian film and television industry develop and connect to a global industry and like many I am full of admiration for Jacki’s commitment to her craft, her ability and her continued success both here and now abroad.
“She has been a mentor to so many young performers and those involved in the challenging world of theatre and film and I am delighted that she has been chosen as an AACTA Raymond Longford Award recipient.”