Kumail Nanjiani and his wife, Emily V. Gordon, at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, which honored Nanjiani with a Virtuosos Award on Saturday. Nanjiani and Gordon co-wrote the hit romantic comedy, The Big Sick, in which Nanjiani also starred. 
Christopher Lloyd. 
Dania Ramirez. 
Daniel Kaluuya, a winner of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Virtuosos Award. 
Emily V. Gordon. 
Hong Chau, a winner of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Virtuosos Award. 
John Boyega, a winner of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Virtuosos Award. 
Kumail Nanjiani, a winner of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Virtuosos Award. 
Mary J. Blige, a winner of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Virtuosos Award. 
Timothée Chalamet, a winner of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Virtuosos Award.
Seven actors were recognized Saturday for their breakthrough roles in film with the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Virtuosos Award, presented at the Arlington Theatre.
The diverse group of actors “have earned their place as some of the most talented individuals working in the industry today,” SBIFF executive director Roger Durling said.
This year’s honorees are Daniel Kaluuya for his role in the speculative thriller Get Out; Gal Godot for her portrayal of Wonder Woman; Hong Chau for her humorous, compassionate role in the social satire Downsizing; John Boyega for his role in Detroit, playing a security guard falsely accused of killing three men during the 1967 Detroit riot; Kumail Nanjiani for The Big Sick, a film based on the true story of a man whose girlfriend falls into a coma, which he also co-wrote with his wife, Emily Gordon; singer/songwriter Mary J. Blige for her role in Mudbound as Florence Jackson, a mother struggling to maintain land in Mississippi in the 1940s; and Timothée Chalamet for Call Me by Your Name, in which he gives a performance as a teenage boy who starts a relationship with his father’s assistant.
The Virtuosos Award event was presented by UGG and moderated by Dave Karger.
Godot was unable to attend the event after coming down with the flu, according to festival organizers.
Click here for more information about SBIFF, including this year’s events schedule through Feb. 10.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.