2017 HONOREES & PRESENTERS
Fritz Coleman is NBC4’s weathercaster on the weekday editions of Channel 4 News. A Southern California broadcasting icon, Coleman is well known for his sense of humor and extensive knowledge of weather. He joined NBC4 in February 1982, as the weekend weathercaster, and moved up to weekdays in 1984. Coleman has been named “Best Weathercaster” in nearly every major paper in Southern California, including the Orange County Register, the San Bernardino Sun, and four times in the Los Angeles Daily News. Coleman won a number of awards and honors for his dedication to community service. The City of L.A. named Coleman a “Treasure of Los Angeles” in 1999, and the United States House of Representatives gave him the Humanitarian of the Year Award for his fundraising efforts on behalf of the American Red Cross. Coleman has also been honored by the Los Angeles Chapter of the Salvation Army for his long-time commitment to the organization and his efforts as Christmas Fundraising Chairman and for chairing the annual Fritz Coleman Fair Weather Golf Tournament. A long-time stand-up comic, Coleman has performed at The Improvisation, The Ice House and other Southern California comedy clubs. He has utilized his humor in a number of series and specials that have aired on NBC4, including “Fritz and Friends” and “The Perils of Parenting,” receiving four Los Angeles area Emmy Awards for his work. He has also written, produced, and starred in three one-man plays. Fritz is the unofficial Mayor of Toluca Lake and uses his name and celebrity to support a variety of charitable organizations and to help the less fortunate. Fritz’s philanthropy, sense of humor and continual commitment to the community is why The Marshall Family and Burbank International Film Festival are proud honor Fritz with this years “Garry Marshall Spirit Award”.
FRITZ COLEMAN: HONOREE
​Accomplished character actress Veronica Cartwright is an English-born American actress who has worked mainly in American film and television in a career spanning six decades. Her career as a child actress began in 1958 after her family moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1950s. Veronica landed good feature roles, ranging from her debut in In Love and War to the kleptomaniac forced to lie about her teachers in William Wyler’s The Children’s Hour. She was also the daughter of the family terrorized by Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, Henry Fonda’s child in Spencer’s Mountain and episodes of One Step Beyond: The Haunting and The Twilight Zone episode, I Sing the Body Electric. Cartwright also had the recurring role of the bullying Violet Rutherford (who gave Theodore his first kiss) on ABC’s “Leave It to Beaver” and spent two seasons as the frontiersman’s daughter Jemima, on the NBC series “Daniel Boone”. She is perhaps best known for her roles in The Right Stuff, The Rat Pack, the science fiction films Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Alien for which she won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. Other films and TV shows include Witches of Eastwick, Flight of The Navigator and The X-Files. Veronica also won a regional Emmy for the TV movie Tell Me Not in Mournful Numbers. The Burbank International Film Festival is proud to present Veronica Cartwright with the Lifetime Achievement Award for over six decades of award-winning work as an actress in Hollywood.
VERONICA CARTWRIGHT: HONOREE
Tippi Hedren was born in Minnesota in 1930. As a young girl she began a modeling career that later took her to New York and Los Angeles. In the early 1960s her role in a television commercial caught the eye of famed director Alfred Hitchcock, who signed her to a contract and gave her the lead in his films The Birds and Marnie. While her roles earned her critical acclaim and made her star, Hedrenís relationship with Hitchcock quickly soured and the two parted ways. While continuing her work in television and film, Hedren has also devoted a good portion of her time to a range of charities, most significantly with animal-rights and wildlife-conservation causes. In the early 1970s she founded the Shambala Preserve in Southern California as a sanctuary for rescued exotic cats, and in 1983 she founded the Roar Foundation to continue her work with animals. During her career, she has received countless awards for both her acting and charitable endeavors. Hedren has been married three times and is the mother of actress Melanie Griffith and the grandmother of actress Dakota Johnson. Tippi now lives in a home built on the Shambala Reserve so she can always be near her beloved animals. The Burbank International Film Festival is proud to present Tippi Hedren with this years Awareness Award for her animal rights activism and for her amazing career as an actress.
TIPPI HEDREN: HONOREE
​Daughter of Garry Marshall, Kathleen oversaw the construction of her father’s Falcon Theatre in Burbank. She has been producing theatre there for the last 16 years which were subscription based seasons. She also produced productions of “Happy Days: The New Musical” with the book by Garry and music and lyrics by Paul Williams. She is currently producing “Pretty Woman: The Musical” which is headed to Broadway in the fall of 2018. It was Garry’s wish that the theatre continue to serve as a welcome home for established artists as well as emerging talent. Kathleen has led the transition team to create the Garry Marshall Theatre, a new nonprofit theatre and is excited to serve on the theatre’s board of directors this inaugural year. The Burbank International Film Festival and the Marshall family are proud to honor Fritz Coleman with this years “Garry Marshall Spirit Award”.
KATHLEEN MARSHALL: PRESENTER
Louis had a breakthrough year when he was cast as Peter Abernathy, father to Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and one of the first robots to experience programming glitches on the acclaimed HBO sci-fi series “Westworld”. On the big screen, Herthum can next be seen in “Cadaver” and Miramax’s “Labyrinth” with Johnny Depp. His first “big break” came when he joined the cast of the long-running hit CBS series “Murder, She Wrote,” starring as Deputy Andy Broom. His recurring television roles include Netflix’s “Longmire,” and werewolf pack leader JD in season 5 of HBO’s supernatural drama “True Blood.” Guest starring roles include “Narcos”, “Chicago Med”, “Training Day”, “True Detective”, “Treme” and “Breaking Bad” to name a few. On the big screen, Herthum starred in the horror films “The Last Exorcism” and “The Last Exorcism 2,” and other notable indie & studio films. Herthum has appeared in over 40 stage productions, dozens of commercials and over 100 films & TV shows. Louis added “Producer” to his resume, producing his first feature film, “Favorite Son”. Since then Louis has, through his Louisiana based production company Ransack Films, produced a total of five narrative features, including the award winning thriller, “Red Ridge” and one feature length documentary.
LOUIS HERTHUM: PRESENTER
Mckenzie is most recognized for playing the role of Sheridan Crane in the long running soap opera “Passions”. Recently she stars as the Host of the hit SYFY series “Face-Off” along side her Oscar and Emmy award-winning father, makeup artist and designer Michael Westmore. Mckenzie is currently launching a new makeup line through QVC to celebrate her family’s 100 year anniversary in the television and motion picture industry and to keep the Westmore family name established in the makeup industry. McKenzie began her career at the age of three playing Robert De Niro’s daughter in the Oscar-wining film “Raging Bull”. Her parents then entered her into acting and singing classes and the rest is history. Her appearances on stage include “Dido and Aneas”, “The Sound of Music” and “Little Shop of Horrors” to name a few. McKenzie’s other roles in film and screen include Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek: Voyager, Weird Science, Star Trek: The Next Generation and NBC’s Days of Our Lives and a guest appearance on NBC’s hit comedy “Friends”. Besides acting, McKenzie is a trained equestrian and personal trainer. McKenzie will be presenting her father with a special Honoree Award for Makeup/Design.
MCKENZIE WESTMORE: PRESENTER
Crystal Allen is a Canadian actress with major roles in television and film. She starred opposite Brandon Routh in “Crooked Arrows” and “Ghost Storm” with Carlos Bernard. She is currently a series regular on the Canadian sitcom Canooks as a series regular and is also known for her portrayal of the Orion Slave Girl D’nesh on the Star Trek series “Enterprise” and as Navigator Yara in the popular independent film, “Of Gods and Men”. Allen’s additional notable performances are on hit TV shows such as “Castle”, “Body of Proof”, “Haven”, “Prison Break”, “Desperate Housewives”, “Boston Legal”, “Navy NCIS”, “Modern Men”, “Sex and the City”, “The Sopranos”, and the feature film “Maid in Manhattan” and the Hallmark movie “Falling in Love with the Girl Next Door”. Allen starred in the latest two sequels to their already hit films Anaconda 3 & 4. Crystal has been a guest to the Monaco TV Festival in past years and in 2013 was a member of the festival jury. We are pleased to once again have Crystal as one of our celebrity presenters this year.
CRYSTAL ALLEN: PRESENTER
You probably recognize Donnell Turner on daytime television for his recurring role playing Curtis Ashford on General Hospital. He also portrayed the character of Dr. Aiden Williams on “Days of Our Lives”. Guest starring roles on television include: “Jane The Virgin”, “How To Get Away With Murder,” “Parks and Recreation”, “Dexter,” “ Anger Management,” “Rizzoli and Isles,” “ 2 Broke Girls,” “Revenge,” “The Mindy Project,” “Teen Wolf,” “CSI,” and “90210. The versatile actor is not a stranger to commercials and print as an in demand model and spokesman. Turner has booked more than 100 print ads worldwide including: Nike, Pepsi, Hilton, Disney, AT&T, Coke and Infinity. In addition to these major brands, he has also worked in 9 national commercial campaigns and was the Mercedes Benz C-Class Spokesman.
DONNELL TURNER: PRESENTER
June Squibb’s most recent film appearance was in Alexander Payne’s Nebraska as Kate Grant starring opposite Bruce Dern. She was nominated for “Best Supporting Actress” at the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Sag-Aftra Awards, Critic’s Choice Awards, and the Independent Spirit Awards. She had also appeared in director Payne’s earlier film About Schmidt opposite Jack Nicholson. Other films include Welcome to Mooseport, In and Out, Scent of a Woman with Al Pacino and Far From Heaven. Her most recent Indie film (currently in post production) is I’ll Be Seeing You with Blythe Danner. She recently appeared on TV in Getting On, Girls, Glee, Devious Maids, and the upcoming HBO Comedy Special, 8 Days in Hell. On Broadway, June played Electra, the stripper, in Gypsy with Ethel Merman, Happy Time (the musical), Gorey Stories and Sacrilege. We are proud to once again have Oscar Nominee June Squibb as a presenter at this years Awards Show.
JUNE SQUIBB: PRESENTER
Gigi is undoubtedly best known for her role as Chiana on the science fiction TV series Farscape. She originally was hired for only one episode, but by the beginning of Season 2, she was promoted to be a series regular on the show, appearing in total of 68 episodes. Guest starring roles on TV, include “The Lost World”, “BeastMaster” and popular Australian TV shows such as “The Secret Life of Us” and “Stingers”. She starred as the female lead in the critically acclaimed Australian Drama/Thriller “Last Train to Freo” and was nominated for a Best Actress in a Lead Role by the Film Critics Circle of Australia. She also had a supporting role in the USA Network TV miniseries “The Starter Wife” and became a regular on the Aussie T.V. series “Rescue Special Ops”. Most recently, Gigi hosted “Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge” on the SyFy Channel. As a child, Gigi Edgley performed both in and out of school. She became mainly interested in acting and had her first professional theatrical engagement at the Twelfth Night Theater. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Queensland University of Technology and she began acting steadily in Australia on T.V. As a believer in the school of method acting, Gigi has developed a broad set of skills and experiences for her roles. She is proficient in ballet, jazz, character dance, singing, and martial arts.
GIGI EDGLEY: PRESENTER
Isaac C. Singleton Jr. not only makes a living playing big, scary guys, but is also known for his comedic wit. The 6-foot-5 actor can be seen as the menacing Bo’sun in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. For Pirates, he admits his character only had two emotions in the film, angry and annoyed. Other roles include the air marshal in the feature film Anger Management, an evil alien in Galaxy Quest and an ape-soldier in Planet of the Apes. Isaac is extremely well-spoken and articulate and has the kind of resonating bass voice reminiscent of James Earl Jones. Isaac has done voice-over work on over 100 video games including Transformers, Halo 4, Street Fighter 3 & 4 and World of Warcraft. On television, his dramatic credits include The X-Files, Crossing Jordan, Marshall Law and Wanted to name a few. Isaac also showed off his comedic chops on hit comedy shows including The Sarah Silverman Project, Arliss, Sabrina The Teenage Witch and MAD-TV. We are pleased to once again have Isaac as one of our celebrity presenters this year.
ISAAC C. SINGLETON JR.: PRESENTER
At the age of 13, Kirkland began making super 8 films and working for his father creating “making of” films for major production companies and sparked Kirkland’s desire to seek a career in the entertainment industry. Kirkland developed an interest in drawing at an early age. At the age of 17, he began studying in the Experimental Animation Program at the California Institute of the Arts, earning a BFA degree. In 1976, he won the Student Academy Award for the graphically animated film made to the song “Fame” by David Bowie. After graduating, he applied to Disney, but he was not accepted and instead began working for Hanna-Barbara. He began working on The Simpsons in season two and has since directed over 78 episodes and in season 18, he became the show’s supervising director. Kirkland has won three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Environmental Media Awards and a Pioneer in Television Animation Award from the Burbank International Film Festival for his work on The Simpsons. As an independent filmmaker, Kirkland has written, directed and produced award-winning short films which have been shown at film festivals around the world and screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Kirkland is also an accomplished still photographer whose images have been published in US and People magazines. In 2014, we presented Mark with the “President’s Innovation Award” for his short film “The Moving Picture Co. 1914”.
MARK KIRKLAND: PRESENTER
Ken Davitian was born in Los Angeles, to an Armenian-American family in Montebello. Davitian worked in his father’s waste management company until graduating from Whittier College. He is an actor and producer, known for the feature films, “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” ,“The Artist” and “Meet the Spartans”. Television credits include a recurring role on “Ray Donovan” and guest-starring roles on “Hawaii: Five-O”, “Two and a Half Men” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” to name a few. Davitian was the Winner of the “Best Villain - Feature” award for “Abstraction” at the Action On Film International Film Festival and says his teenage idol was Burt Reynolds, who greatly influenced his choice of becoming an actor.
KEN DAVITIAN: PRESENTER
