John Leguizamo to Receive Career Achievement Award at Critics Choice Celebración
John Leguizamo will receive the Career Achievement Award at the Critics Choice Association's sixth annual Celebración of Cinema & Television, the organisation announced on 24 August 2026. The ceremony honours Latino talent across film and television, and this year's slate spans studios, streamers, and networks — from Focus Features and Neon to Apple TV, Paramount+, Peacock, and Amazon MGM. Variety
Leguizamo, whose career stretches from one-man stage shows to major studio franchises, anchors the honouree list. The Career Achievement Award caps a body of work spanning four decades in front of and behind the camera.
Inde Navarrette takes the Breakthrough Actress Award (Film) for her performance in Focus Features' Obsession. Laysla De Oliveira earns the Breakthrough Actress Award (Series) for Paramount+'s Lioness, the Taylor Sheridan-created espionage drama.
James Ortiz will receive the Innovator Award for his work on Amazon MGM's Project Hail Mary, the Ryan Gosling-led adaptation of Andy Weir's novel. Judy Reyes picks up the Trailblazer Award for her turn on ABC's High Potential, the crime procedural that returned her to network primetime.
Oscar Núñez, best known to television audiences as Oscar Martinez on The Office, will be honoured with the Vanguard Award for Peacock's comedy The Paper. Aimee Carrero receives the Supporting Actress Award (Series) for Apple TV's Your Friends & Neighbors.
Producer Rodrigo Teixeira rounds out the slate with the Producer Award, recognised for Neon's thriller Paper Tiger. Teixeira has been a fixture on the international sales and festival circuit, where acquisition deals — the pre-selling of distribution rights by territory — determine which films reach cinemas.
The Celebración of Cinema & Television, now in its sixth year, is the Critics Choice Association's dedicated event spotlighting Latino contributions to the screen industries. The Critics Choice Association, the largest critics organisation in the United States and Canada, also runs the Critics Choice Awards, whose film and television winners are unveiled each January.
The full slate of honorees was confirmed by Variety on 24 August 2026. A ceremony date has not yet been specified in the announcement.
