Aaron Eckhart was honored with the 2007 Ray-Ban Visionary Award on Sunday, January 21, 2007 in Park City, Utah, at Harry O's. The evening was presented by Vittorio Verdun, Vice President of Marketing for Luxottica Group US and Robin Bronk, Executive Director of The Creative Coalition. The event concluded with a special musical performance by hot, young, breakout artists The All-American Rejects.
The Ray-Ban Visionary Award, established in 2003, honors the work and dedication of an individual who possesses extraordinary passion, creativity and leadership, and whose work showcases vision, imagination and originality. Previous award winners include Matt Dillon and Kevin Bacon, Colin Callender (President of HBO Films) and Mark Ordesky (EVP/COO New Line Productions and President of Fine Line Features).
Antonio Miyakawa, Executive Vice President of Luxottica Group said: "We are proud to be, thanks to this Award and to our partnership with The Sundance Film Festival, a genuine supporter of visionary talents in the independent film industry. We are honored to have Aaron accepting this Award since he truly embodies those same values of courage, independent thinking and irony of our brand Ray-Ban."
Aaron Eckhart, a great performer capable of transforming himself as the role requires, starred in Brian De Palma's "The Black Dahlia" (2006). He was also gleefully provocative in "Thank You for Smoking" (2006), playing a spokesman and lobbyist for Big Tobacco who spins and schemes his way through a maze of overzealous health advocates and opportunistic politicians while defending the rights of smokers. Eckhart's brash performance in Jason Reitman's satire earned him a Best Actor nomination for the 2007 Golden Globes. "I'm thrilled to receive the Ray-Ban Visionary Award which supports the talent of all those artists who believe in independent, genuine, visionary film making," says Eckhart.
Eckhart also starred in "Conversations with Other Women" (2006), "Suspect Zero" (2004), "Paycheck" (2003), "The Missing" (2003), "The Core" (2003), "Possession" (2002), "The Pledge" (2001), "Erin Brockovich" (2000), "Nurse Betty" (also 2000), "Molly" (1999) and "In the Company of Men" (1997).
The All-American Rejects, with two platinum albums under their belt and a series of hit singles, have brought their finely crafted mix of rock/pop/mayhem to the next level & beyond. "Dirty Little Secret", "Move Along" and now "It Ends Tonight" -- all off the Move Along album -- have catapulted the band into a household name & thrilled millions of fans.
