Angelina Jolie is to receive the 2013 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The actress will join Angela Lansbury, Steve Martin and Piero Tosi among those being honoured at the fifth annual Governors Awards gala 2013. All four awards will be presented at the Academy’s 5th annual Governors Awards on Nov. 16.
Lansbury and Martin will be handed honorary awards, while Jolie will collect her second Oscar statuette for her humanitarian efforts, which an Ampas spokesman says, "have brought credit to the industry".
The honour will tie up a landmark year for the actress, who underwent a double mastectomy in February (13) after learning she was a carrier of the ‘faulty’ Brca1 gene, which increased her likelihood of developing breast cancer by 80 per cent. She also topped Forbes magazine’s list of the highest-paid actresses.
Jolie, who won a best supporting actress award for 1999’s Girl, Interrupted, was praised by the academy for "staking out a career in the nexus of entertainment and philanthropy" for being an "impassioned advocate for humanitarian causes, traveling widely to promote organizations and social justice efforts such as the Prevent Sexual Violence Initiative."
Jolie tweeted thanks Thursday, saying "I’m so proud to win an honorary Oscar this year with @TheAcademy, So much love & joy to u all, thank you! Congrats Martin, Lansbury, & Tosi."
The honorary awards were voted on by the academy board of governors at a meeting on Tuesday night. But the announcements were delayed close to 48 hours as academy representatives tried to contact the recipients, many of whom were on vacation.
The honorary governors awards have been granted since 2009. Oprah Winfrey received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2011. 2012 governor awards recipients included filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker, legendary stuntman Hal Needham and DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg.