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Iconic directors Spike Lee and Ryan Coogler, plus a sterling line up of actors including Sterling K. Brown, Tessa Thompson, David Alan Grier, Janelle James, and a trio of women from Paul Thomas Anderson’s critically acclaimed One Battle After Another are part of the lineup of honorees for this year’s Critics Choice Association‘s (CCA) 8th Annual Celebration of Black Cinema & Television awards. Taking place on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, in Los Angeles, the event honors standout work both onscreen and offscreen from the Black entertainment community. Actor, musician, and comedian Jay Pharoah, known for his work on Saturday Night Live, his comedy special Jared, and hosting Fox’s The Quiz with Balls, returns to host this year’s event. STARZ will serve as the official media partner, with the awards show set to air and stream exclusively on the platform in early 2026. Honorees for this year’s Celebration of Black Cinema & Television will include the following: Academy Award-winning writer-director Lee will be honored with the Career Achievement Award in recognition of his extraordinary body of work that has made an indelible mark on popular culture over the last four decades, including most recently A24 and Apple Original Films’ Highest 2 Lowest. Throughout his career, Lee has explored race, politics, and African American life in such iconic films as She’s Gotta Have It, School Daze, Do The Right Thing, Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Inside Man, Malcolm X, Da 5 Bloods , and BlackKklansman for which he shared a Screenplay Oscar. He also directed the double Emmy Award-winning documentary about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the BP Oil Spill If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise, as well as the Oscar-nominated feature documentary 4 Little Girls about the 1963 bombing of a Black church in Birmingham that killed four young girls. Tony Award winner Grier will receive the Vanguard Award in recognition of his career across stage, screen, and television, and most recently his role on NBC & Universal Television’s St. Denis Medical, which earned him Critics Choice Award and NAACP Image Award nominations for Best Actor in a Comedy Series earlier this year. Grier’s versatility ranges from comedy like In Living Color, to acclaimed performances on Broadway (Race, A Soldier’s Play), to his continued impact on television today. Academy Award nominee Ryan Coogler will be given the Director Award for his work on Warner Bros. Pictures’ Sinners, lensed in both IMAX 70mm and Ultra Panavision 65, a marriage of two techniques that has never been done before. Coogler’s most personal film to date, this celebration of Black culture and an ode to the Blues broke the record for the highest-grossing opening for an original film released so far this decade. Coogler’s other landmark directorial credits are Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Oscar- and Emmy-nominated director-producer Reginald Hudlin (Sidney, The Black Godfather, House Party, Boomerang, Django Unchained, and Marshall) and Peabody, Emmy, and NAACP Image Award-winning director Shola Lynch will be honored with the Documentary Award on behalf of Apple TV’s Number One on the Call Sheet. The timely two-part documentary, featuring acclaimed storytellers, including Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy, shines a spotlight on Black achievement and excellence in the film industry. The Comedy Award will be bestowed upon James for her work on ABC’s Abbott Elementary, a role for which she has won a Screen Actors Guild Award, NAACP Image Award, and received four Emmy Award nominations. The hit workplace comedy, produced by Warner Bros. Television and 20th Television, has been nominated for 30 Emmy Awards overall. James has also established herself as one of comedy’s most in-demand performers, selling out venues nationwide. Critically acclaimed film and television actress Thompson will accept the Actress Award – Film for her performance as the titular iconic feminist in Nia DaCosta’s Hedda, a modern reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s classic play “Hedda Gabler” for Amazon MGM Studios. Hedda, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, continues Thompson’s impressive body of work that includes the films Passing, Creed, Little Woods, and an Emmy-nominated performance in the HBO series Westworld. Academy Award nominee and three-time Emmy Award winner Brown will be honored with the Actor Award – Series for his work in Hulu’s Paradise. For this role, Brown has been nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and a Gotham TV Award. Brown also serves as an executive producer on the hit thriller series, which received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Drama Series, and will return for its second season in early 2026. Emmy Award nominee and Critics Choice Award winner Jurnee Smollett will receive the Actress Award – Series for her work in Apple TV’s Smoke, adding to a career of genre-spanning roles in Lovecraft Country, Birds of Prey, and The Order. Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti of the Warner Bros. Pictures’ action comedy One Battle After Another will receive the Ensemble Award. Starring alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, and Benicio del Toro in the critically acclaimed film written, directed, and produced by Paul Thomas Anderson, each honoree delivers a distinct and memorable performance. NAACP Award winner Damson Idris will receive the Supporting Actor Award – Film for his work in Apple Original Films’ F1. The sports drama broke records as both the highest-grossing auto racing film and the highest-grossing film by Apple Studios. This recognition adds to a growing list of accolades for Idris, including his critically lauded and award-winning work in FX’s crime drama, Snowfall. Critics Choice Award nominee Skye P. Marshall will be given the Supporting Actress Award – Series for her work in CBS’s Matlock. For this role, Marshall also received a Gotham TV Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Drama Series. The legal drama finished its debut season as television’s #1 new series and returned this Fall for its second season. STARZ will bestow Skye P. Marshall’s award with a special STARZ #TakeTheLead designation as part of its ongoing commitment to amplifying narratives by, about, and for women and underrepresented audiences. The Breakthrough Performance Award will recognize Tenika Davis for her work in STARZ’s Spartacus: House of Ashur. Davis plays Achillia, the Spartacus franchise’s first female gladiator, in the sequel series, which will debut on December 5. Naya Desir-Johnson will receive the Rising Star Award for her performance in Amazon MGM Studios’ Sarah’s Oil. Desir-Johnson plays the titular role in the biographical film drama based on Sarah Rector’s fight for her oil wealth. The film is set to debut this November. Singer-songwriter Aiyana-Lee will perform the song she delivers in the closing moments of Highest 2 Lowest, where she portrays an aspiring musician chasing her big break. “It’s truly an honor to continue our tradition of celebrating excellence in Black cinema and television,” says Shawn Edwards, executive producer of the Celebration of Black Cinema & Television. “This has been a banner year where Spike Lee — the godfather of contemporary cinema — continued to inspire with his groundbreaking vision; Ryan Coogler represented the next generation of visionary filmmakers reshaping the culture with Sinners, and a record number of Black women created unprecedented impact with a wide range of diverse and high-profile roles.” The Critics Choice Association’s Celebration of Black Cinema & Television will be produced by Madelyn Hammond and Javier Infante of Hammond Infante Productions.
