Recently, Brendan Fraser's comeback made a significant stop on the awards circuit. Fresh off winning the TIFF Tribute Award, the 53-year-old actor received the American Riviera Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for his noteworthy work in Darren Aronofsky's powerful thriller The Whale. Recent recipients of the SBIFF American Riviera trophy include Patricia Arquette, Viggo Mortensen, Renée Zellweger, Kristen Stewart (as Spencer), Viggo Mortensen (as Judy), Sam Rockwell (as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), and Renée Zellweger (as Green Book) (Boyhood).
The SBIFF award adds to Fraser's long list of accolades from fall film festivals, where his performance in The Whale, a drama about a dying man who reconciles with his estranged daughter (Sadie Sink) while battling life-threatening obesity, has so far drawn widespread praise. Fraser previously starred in the Mummy series.
In addition to winning the TIFF Tribute Award and receiving the best reviews of his career, Fraser joined previous winners who went on to win or be nominated for an Oscar after winning at TIFF, such as Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog), and Joaquin Phoenix (Joker).
"I became accustomed to wearing Charlie's body pretty quickly," Fraser said during a PEOPLE and EW video interview at TIFF. "I discovered that, once I took it off, I could still feel the sensation of wearing it, almost like an undulation. At the same time, once I took all the applications off at the end of the day, I felt a deepening sense of respect for people who live in that corporal being, because I could remove it like clothing and wardrobe and makeup, and their challenge to do that with their own body is not as sudden."
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