Tag Archives: Viola Davis

The Retreat Crystal Necklace by Maya Brenner Takes Over Hollywood

Los Angeles loves its crystals, however one specific piece is making the rounds proper now. Halle Berry rocked a citrine necklace on the pink carpet. Viola Davis was noticed off-duty in the identical design. Jessica Chastain recorded a toilet magnificence tutorial in hers, whereas Rita Ora wore an amethyst model in London and aboard a yacht in Ibiza. Nina Dobrev, Julianne Hough, Rebecca Ferguson and Alessandra Ambrosio, too. So, who’s behind this mysterious crystal and diamond-accented design, and why is it seemingly all over the place?

“It’s a chunk to guard your peace,” explains actress Abigail Spencer (Fits, Gray’s Anatomy, Mad Males), who collaborated with shut good friend and L.A. jewellery designer Maya Brenner on the Retreat necklace assortment, which retails on mayabrenner.com for $495. “It’s not only a piece of knickknack,” Spencer says. “It’s a lifestyle.”

Halle Berry sporting a Retreat assortment necklace.

Eugene Gologursky/Getty Pictures

That includes seven crystal necklaces (together with the most recent: labradorite for energy, fluorite for concord and smoky quartz for bravery), The Retreat assortment was impressed by Spencer and Brenner’s shared love of wellness retreats. “I’m a believer that if you wish to recheck your nervous system, it’s a must to take the time,” says Spencer, who has been vocal about her love of We Care Spa in Desert Sizzling Springs. “Nevertheless it’s not at all times sensible. Typically we will’t get away; we will’t spend the cash. So, how will we invite retreat into our on a regular basis lives?”

“Persons are on the lookout for calm in small each day issues,” agrees Brenner, who explains the delicate necklace — which is ready in 14k yellow gold — is meant to remind its wearer to unplug. “Whether or not it’s a cup of matcha or a chunk of knickknack that may be a touchstone of, ‘What do you want on this very second?’”

Rebecca Ferguson

Eric Charbonneau/Getty Pictures

The ladies quietly launched their Retreat assortment final yr by sharing it with their closest confidants together with Spencer’s former Fits co-star Meghan Markle. “I gifted it to my greatest good friend, Meg,” says Spencer. “She wore it earlier than it was even on the location. She simply liked it, after which she began gifting it to others. … What she’s cultivating in her life and the way she needed to point out up in our friendship and assist me had nothing to do with the deeper connection.” Spencer continues, “[It speaks] to the highly effective feminine friendships in our lives. Our pals have been those that have been like, ‘I like this. I need to put on it. I need to present it.’ It was the assist of pals; then it began to have a lifetime of its personal.”

Brenner says the stylish piece has common attraction. “Halle Berry, Jessica Chastain and Rita Ora have very totally different kinds,” she factors out. “I wouldn’t anticipate for them to all be drawn to the identical piece, however it’s versatile.” Brenner says she and Spencer — who’ve been pals for 12 years — designed with their clique in thoughts: “We have been like, ‘I do know who would need the [rose quartz for] love. I do know who wants [citrine for] happiness.’ It was this on the spot gravitating in direction of who in our lives wants this.”

“It’s the grown lady’s friendship necklace,” Spencer provides. “There are friendship bracelets [for girls], however that is like, ‘We’re grown ladies. We’ve been by some shit, you already know? We’re all grown-ups right here and we perceive what it takes [to heal].’ … Anybody drawn to this piece has been by one thing.”

Viola Davis Honored for Philanthropy at HollyRod Foundation 2024 Gala

Viola Davis obtained the Jacqueline Avant HollyRod Humanitarian Award on the HollyRod Basis DesignCare 2024 Gala in Los Angeles on Saturday. The group, based by actress Holly Robinson Peete and her husband Rodney Peete in 1997, helps households affected by Parkinson’s illness and autism.

Previous to Davis’ awards presentation, Robinson Peete spoke in regards to the legacy of Jacqueline — the spouse of former music government Clarence Avant, who was shot and killed in her residence on the age of 81 in 2021. “This award may be very particular to me as a result of Jacqueline was a founding donor of the HollyRod Basis at its inception interval,” mentioned Robinson Peete. “For those who knew her, you knew the definition of grace, pleasure, philanthropy and love for household. She loves the humanities and was an inspiration to so many.”

Kelly Rowland offered to Davis, acknowledging the actress as “somebody whose expertise, resilience, and coronary heart have touched lives in an immeasurable means.”

“Viola Davis completely exemplifies the spirit of this award, named after Jacqueline Avant who was a real champion of generosity, love, and philanthropy,” mentioned Rowland. “Like Jacqueline, Viola’s kindness and dedication to creating the world a greater place reminds us all the energy we have now after we select to uplift others. Viola, we’re past grateful on your braveness, your brilliance and your coronary heart.”

In her acceptance speech, Davis spoke about an important individual anybody may give again to: themselves.

“I take heed to what folks say, that whenever you go into philanthropy, it’s about making the world a greater place; and that’s completely what I need, however the two folks that you simply owe essentially the most to are your six-year-old self and your 80-year-old self,” Davis started. “I don’t know my 80-year-old self but… however I do know my six-year-old self as a result of she’s nonetheless very a lot alive to me.”

The star continued, “She had a number of goals, however she didn’t have a number of hopes. She was a mattress wetter. She grew up with little or no meals and in abject poverty. She was in all probability referred to as a [N-word] extra occasions than she was referred to as Viola — and ugly. However what occurred with Viola, she was born right into a world the place she didn’t slot in. And if anybody comes to grasp the definition of a hero, they’re all the time born right into a world that they don’t slot in.”

Davis’ philanthropic efforts underscore her experiences as a toddler, serving as an envoy for Starvation Is, which is geared toward ending childhood starvation. She’s additionally a supporter of Kids’s Starvation Alliance, clothes and shoe donation non-profit Soles4Souls and ladies’s dependancy rehabilitation group Pleasant Home. Davis has additionally given again to her alma mater Central Falls Excessive Faculty and the native library in her hometown, demonstrating what she says is the reply to being born in a world the place you don’t slot in.

“It’s love. Good old style radical, energetic love. The form of love that we’re invested in everybody’s religious, emotional, bodily world. That form of love that makes folks really feel much less alone,” she mentioned. “I didn’t have that love as Viola. Little Viola was searching for it desperately. That individuals might get past my scent, past the poverty, past the truth that you thought my nappy hair and my massive lips and my vast nostril and my darkish pores and skin wasn’t pleasing to the attention.”

In concluding her speech, Davis spoke about her dedication to creating positive different folks don’t have the identical experiences she did.

“I used to be reluctant to say this,” Davis mentioned, holding again tears. “However till the final one that has a reminiscence of you dies, you’ll by no means be lifeless, and I wish to dwell perpetually. I wish to honor little Viola, I wish to be the hero that she wants subsequent. I wish to be that person who got here via the darkish and mentioned, ‘I see you.’ That’s why I work with starvation. That’s why I work with training. That’s why I work with home violence. I see you. And so long as I’m respiration, I do know that my leg of this race is to cross the baton on to the subsequent nice runner who’s gonna get it and put it out into the world and make others really feel much less alone, like Ms. Avant. I thank her for her life. I thank her for even considering that I’m worthy of this award. And whereas I’m nonetheless respiration, I’m going to go away one thing in folks.”

Some 500 visitors had been in attendance at HollyRod’s twenty sixth annual gala, together with Magic Johnson and Ted Sarandos. Along with the awards ceremony, the night additionally featured a style present, an public sale to help the group and an afterparty with a efficiency by ‘90s R&B group After 7.

Further honorees included artist Morgan Harper Nichols and athlete-professional speaker Jason McElwain, who obtained HollyRod Hero Awards; Dr. Chantale Branson, a neurologist and motion issues specialist, who was offered with the Muhammad Ali Trailblazer Award; Camille Proctor and Nadine Wright-Arbubakkr, founders of The Shade of Autism and Nassan’s Place, who obtained the Karen E. Smith Angel on the Path Awards;  EMT Eric Aquino, who was acknowledged with the Matthew Robinson Jr. Award of Braveness; and KultureCity founders Dr. Julian Maha and Dr. Michele Kong, who obtained the  HollyRod Company Champion Award.

2024 Cannes Film Festival Winners List

After two weeks of nonstop cinema, the second of fact lastly arrived. The winners of the 77th Cannes Movie Pageant had been introduced at a gala ceremony on Saturday night time.

The Palme d’Or, the fest’s high honor, went to Sean Baker‘s intercourse employee screwball comedy Anora. A nervous and shaking Baker took the stage and thanked the jury, saying he nonetheless “couldn’t consider it.” Baker stated profitable Cannes’ high prize has been “my singular objective as a filmmaker for the previous 30 years.”

Baker additionally singled out Francis Ford Coppola and David Cronenberg, two veteran administrators with movies in Cannes competitors this 12 months, as main inspirations. Baker has come far, going from capturing his 2015 characteristic Tangerine on an iPhone5s to profitable the Palme d’Or. He’s the primary American director to win the Palme since Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life in 2011.

Commenting on the jury’s determination, jury president Greta Gerwig stated Anora had “one thing that reminded us of a traditional, there have been buildings of Lubitsch and Howard Hawks. It did one thing truthful and sudden.”

Anora is the fifth Neon movie in a row to win Cannes’ high prize, following Anatomy of a Fall, Triangle of Unhappiness, Titane and Parasite. Neon hasn’t but set a U.S. launch date but for the film, however count on the distributor to launch it in early October, as they’ve for his or her earlier Palme winners, a slot that has confirmed profitable each for awards season and on the field workplace.

The Grand Prix, offered in a shock look by Viola Davis, went to Payal Kapadia’s All We Think about As Gentle, the primary Indian movie to play in Cannes competitors since 1994.

Kapadia used her acceptance speech to specific solidarity with the employees on the Cannes movie competition who’ve been struggling for higher working situations and displayed her crimson “Sous les écrans la dèche” button, from the collective representing freelance staff on the competition. The employees have been protesting all through this 12 months’s competition. Kapadia stated the values that drive her as a filmmaker are “solidarity and empathy” and singled out the “many individuals who work behind the scenes on the competition, they’ve accomplished a powerful job, it’s due to them the competition exists” earlier than holding up her Sous les écrans button.

Iranian political melodrama The Seed of the Sacred Fig from dissident director Mohammad Rasoulof, who fled Iran simply weeks earlier than the competition, acquired a particular award from the jury.

The feminine stars of Jacques Audiard’s gender-transitioning Mexican crime musical Emilia Pérez (Adriana Paz, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and titular lead Karla Sofía Gascón) received finest actress, with Gascón turning into the primary trans actress to win in Cannes. Emilia Pérez additionally acquired the jury prize.

“Girls collectively — that’s one thing we wished to honor once we made this award,” stated Gerwig. “Every of them is a standout, however collectively transcendent.”

Jesse Plemons received finest actor for his function in Sorts of Kindness, Yorgos Lanthimos’ anthology movie that re-teamed him along with his Poor Issues stars Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe. The Civil Battle and Energy of the Canine actor performs three roles in Lanthimos’ weird surrealistic triptych: A submissive businessman, a grieving police officer and a bisexual cult member.

This has been a divisive Cannes and there was no clear frontrunner going into this 12 months’s awards. Only some films — together with All We Think about as Gentle and The Seed of the Sacred Fig — have been universally embraced by critics.

Most have divided audiences. Coppola’s Megalopolis, starring Adam Driver, was each broadly panned and selectively celebrated. Emilia Pérez was hailed by most as a masterpiece however left some critics chilly.

Baker’s Anora was lauded by U.S. critics however dismissed by many in Europe as too mainstream for Cannes competitors. Andrea Arnold’s Chook, a working-class melodrama with fantastical components, equally drew each reward and pans in nearly equal measure. The Substance, from French director Coralie Fargeat and starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid, was hailed as a masterpiece and dismissed as an unoriginal replace on David Cronenberg-esque physique horror. Cronenberg’s new movie, The Shrouds, additionally in competitors, didn’t a lot divide critics as go away them underwhelmed, with most calling the film a muted model of acquainted themes from the veteran Canadian filmmaker.

Ali Abbasi’s Donald Trump film The Apprentice, which seems at how the previous U.S. president was formed by his tutelage below cutthroat lawyer Roy Cohn (Sebastian Stan performs Trump, Jeremy Robust is Cohn), acquired essentially the most press consideration, notably after Trump’s legal professionals despatched a stop and desist order to the filmmakers, attempting to forestall the film from being offered within the U.S. However Abbasi’s considerably typical biopic strategy, and what some have seen as a very sympathetic tackle Trump’s early years, didn’t go over properly with some critics.

One filmmaker everybody can agree on is George Lucas, who acquired an honorary Palme d’Or through the ceremony, for his contribution to cinema, from his first characteristic, THX-1138, which premiered in Cannes’ Administrators’ Fortnight part again in 1971, to the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. Lucas was offered with the honorary Palme by his outdated pal Coppola, who he referred to as “a giant brother and mentor” upon receiving the award.

“I got here right here right this moment to thanks all,” stated Lucas. “I’m only a child who grew up in the course of California, surrounded by vineyards and made movies in San Francisco with my pal Francis Coppola. So we spent our complete careers in parallel, and in San Francisco specifically. In truth, I’ve by no means made a Hollywood movie as a director. So it’s an awesome honor to be right here. I can inform you that.”

A full checklist of winners follows:

Palme d’Or

Sean Baker, Anora

Grand Prix

All We Think about As Gentle

Jury Prize

Emilia Pérez

Finest Director

Miguel Gomes, Grand Tour

Finest Screenplay

Coralie Fargeat, The Substance

Finest Actress

Adriana Paz, Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Emilia Pérez

Finest Actor

Jesse Plemons, Sorts of Kindness

Honorary Palme d’Or

George Lucas

Particular Award

Mohammad Rasoulof, The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Digital camera d’Or for Finest First Movie

Halfdan Ullman Tondel, Armand

Palme d’Or for Finest Brief Movie

Nebojsa Slijepcevic, The Man Who Might Not Stay Silent

This story was initially printed at 9:42 a.m. on Might 25.

66 Stars Close to EGOT Status

Greater than 60 celebrities are near reaching the hard-to-achieve, extremely coveted standing by profitable an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony.

Revealed on Might 20, 2024

Solely 19 folks have gained an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and a Tony — the hard-to-achieve, extremely coveted EGOT.

However greater than 60 performers are only one win away from becoming a member of the EGOT ranks, which incorporates the likes of Richard Rodgers, Rita Moreno, Audrey Hepburn and Mel Brooks.

Cher, Kate Winslet, Frequent, Helen Mirren, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Dick Van Dyke, Lily Tomlin and Julie Andrews are additionally among the many actors and musicians who want just one award to have an EGOT.

Learn on to see the listing of performers who’ve gained three of the 4 honors that make up an EGOT.