Leonardo DiCaprio to be honored at Palm Springs International Film Awards
Jesus Reyes
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) – Leonardo DiCaprio will receive the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor, at the 2026 Palm Springs International Film Festival, organizers announced on Monday.
DiCaprio is being honored for his performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another
“In One Battle After Another, Leonardo DiCaprio delivers a riveting and emotionally charged performance, embodying a man pushed to his breaking point in the face of relentless adversity,” said Festival Chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi. “Across his career, DiCaprio has continually redefined what is possible in screen acting—bringing emotional depth, artistic integrity, and fearless commitment to every role. It is our honor to present him with the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor, in recognition of his enduring influence and exceptional body of work.”
DiCaprio joins this year’s previously announced honorees Michael B. Jordan (Icon Award), Adam Sandler (Chairman’s Award) and Sentimental Value cast members Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, and Elle Fanning (International Star Award).
The Film Awards will take place on January 3, 2026, at the Palm Springs Convention Center, with the festival running January 2-12, 2026. The event will be presented by Kering and sponsored by Entertainment Tonight.
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Past actor recipients of the Desert Palm Achievement Award include Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal), Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), Adrien Brody (The Brutalist), Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook), Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood), Adam Driver (Marriage Story), Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin), Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick… Boom!), Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club), Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer), Gary Oldman (Mank), Sean Penn (Milk), Brad Pitt (Moneyball) and Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything).
In the years they were honored, Bridges, Brody, Day-Lewis, McConaughey, Murphy, Oldman, Penn and Redmayne went on to win the Academy Award® for Best Actor, while Ahmed, Cooper, Driver, Garfield, Farrell, Firth and Pitt received Best Actor Oscar® nominations.
From Warner Bros. Pictures comes One Battle After Another, written, directed and produced by Paul Thomas Anderson follows Washed-up revolutionary Bob (DiCaprio) who exists in a state of stoned paranoia, surviving off- grid with his spirited, self-reliant daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti). When his evil nemesis (Sean Penn) resurfaces after 16 years and she goes missing, the former radical scrambles to find her, father and daughter both battling the consequences of his past
DiCaprio, who owns a home in Palm Springs, is no stranger to the film festival.
He was honored in 2009 with an Ensemble Performance Award for Revolutionary Road.
He returned in 2024 when Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon received the Vanguard Award.
