Rebel Wilson hosts 2024 AACTA Awards, Harry Connick Jr comperes Industry Awards

THE Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) has attracted Rebel Wilson to host the AACTA Awards Ceremony on Saturday and Harry Connick Jr to also do the honours at the AACTA Industry Awards on Thursday.

Both hosts will be joined by some of the industry’s most dynamic stars presenting at the ceremonies.  

The AACTA Industry Awards ceremony on February 8 and the AACTA Awards on February 10 are both presented by Foxtel Group and staged at the Home of the Arts (HOTA) on the Gold Coast. 

The 2024 AACTA Awards Ceremony will be broadcast on Channel 10 at 7pm AEDT Saturday. A special ‘director’s cut’ including all awards from the ceremony will be available at 7:30pm on February 11 on BINGE, Foxtel On-Demand and on AACTA TV.

Presenters for the tomorrow’s Connick-hosted Industry Awards include Zoë Coombs Marr, Darren Gilshenan, Lincoln Lewis, Isabel Lucas, Kate McCartney, Kate McLennan, Osamah Sami and Andrew Winter.

Award presenters at Saturday’s Rebel Wilson-hosted AACTA Awards include Cate Blanchett, Melanie Bracewell, Patrick Brammall, Grant Denyer, Harriet Dyer, Tom Gleeson, Ron Howard, Tim McDonald, Leah Purcell and Julia Zemiro, along with Harry Connick Jr.

At the AACTA Industry Awards, Mr Connick will be supported by some of Australia’s most revered screen talent including the creators of Deadloch Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan, actors Osamah Sami, Darren Gilshenan, Lincoln Lewis, comedian Zoë Coombs Marr, TV presenter Andrew Winter, and more.

The AACTA Awards ceremonies form part of AACTA Festival, a four-day celebration of Australia’s vibrant screen industry.

With more than 90 events, AACTA Festival will present a dynamic array of panels, meet-and-greet, screenings and activities offering a place for the Australian screen industry to connect from February 8-11, 2024. 

Many nominees and winners from the AACTA Awards will be presenting on panels and discussions throughout the Festival.

AACTA Festival will be held at the Home of the Arts (HOTA) on the Gold Coast, a destination renowned for its beauty and vibrant cultural scene – and a leading film and TV production centre in its own right. Find out more at aactafestival.com

Tickets are on sale now for the AACTA Awards, AACTA Industry Awards and AACTA Live Viewing Party. Click here for more information.

 

Harry Connick Jr’s body of work and honours

Renowned musician, singer and actor Harry Connick Jr is no stranger to the Australian film and TV industries, visiting and performing here regularly for several decades.

His career has exemplified excellence across multiple platforms in the entertainment world. In the US, Connick’s home country, he has received Grammy and Emmy awards as well as Tony nominations for his live and recorded musical performances, his achievements in film and television and his appearances on Broadway as both an actor and a composer.  

Connick has appeared in 20 films including Dolphin Tale with Morgan Freeman, Hope Floats with Sandra Bullock, P.S. I Love You with Hilary Swank, Bug with Ashley Judd, and Copycat with Sigourney Weaver, and on television (American Idol, Will & Grace, South Pacific and his Emmy Award winning concert specials).

In the autumn of 2016, he launched Harry, a national daytime television show featuring his touring band, which earned 11 Daytime Emmy nominations in its two seasons, including two nominations for best host, and a Critics’ Choice nomination for best talk show. 

He last performed on Broadway in December of 2019 in Harry Connick, Jr.- A Celebration of Cole Porter honouring one of America’s most respected songwriters, Cole Porter. 

Connick hosted the CBS special United We Sing: A Grammy Tribute to the Unsung Heroes, honouring essential workers in the pandemic.  In December 2021, he stepped into the shoes of Oliver ‘Daddy’ Warbucks in Annie Live! which aired on NBC. On Broadway, Connick received Tony nominations as both a lead actor in The Pajama Game and as a composer/lyricist for Thou Shalt Not. 

The foundation of Connick’s art is the music of his native New Orleans, where he began performing as a pianist and vocalist at the age of five. Highlights of his music career include several multi-platinum recordings such as When Harry Met Sally, Blue Light, Red Light, When My Heart Finds Christmas, Come By Me, and Only You. 

True Love: A Celebration of Cole Porter, was released in 2019 and coincided with performances on Broadway in a show he wrote and directed: Harry Connick, Jr. A Celebration of Cole Porter honouring the musical achievements of one of America’s most respected songwriters, Cole Porter.

In 2020 as the country entered the pandemic lockdown, Connick retreated to his home studio and emerged with an album of songs of faith and inspiration. Alone With My Faith, released during the spring of 2021, displays the sheer breadth of Connick’s talents as he wrote new songs, arranged all songs, played every instrument, and sang every voice. Alone With My Faith earned Connick his 16^th career Grammy nomination for Best Roots Gospel Album. 

Despite his busy career, Connick has always found the time to be charitable and has done some of his most important work in his efforts to help New Orleans after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. He, along with friend Branford Marsalis, conceived of ‘Musicians’ Village’ and its centerpiece the Ellis Marsalis Center. Musicians’ Village provides homes for Katrina-displaced musicians while the Center uses music as its focal point of a holistic strategy to deliver a broad range of services to underserved children, youth, and musicians from neighbourhoods battling poverty and social injustice. 

Connick’s honours, including a star on the celebrated Hollywood Walk of Fame, induction into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame, honorary doctorates from Tulane and Loyola Universities, and the Jefferson Award for Public Service, have not led Harry Connick Jr to slow his creative pace. They only confirm his determination to apply his talents in ways that prove inspirational to other artists and publicly spirited citizens.

 

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