American Riviera Award Honoring Renée Zellweger

Reviewed by Benjamin Bearman at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2020.

Renée Zellweger is a true artist who is empowered through her craft. Performing, entertaining, and telling stories are just of few of the disciplines that light Renee’s Fire. She has an inspiring drive, explaining how she had an extreme hunger to hone in her craft and become better. This is something I can connect with as it is a guideline of my own life, to continuously strive to be better.

Renée had mentioned that with each role in her career that challenged her to do things outside of her comfort zone, such as dance and sing at a greater capacity than previously performed, it was an opportunity for her to rise to the occasion. As she stated softly yet strongly, “the greater the challenge, the greater the reward.” Now, we’ve all heard this before but sitting in the audience that night at the Arlington Theater, you could feel and hear the sincerity in her voice. That was no acting. Miss Zellweger accepted the reward with grace and beauty.

I look forward to watching more of her performances as she continues to become a better actor and take on challenging characters.

Bravo Renée.