Travolta to Receive Hollywood Film Fest Award

According to Variety, The Hollywood Film Festival will award John Travolta for its Supporting Actor of the Year award for his performance as Edna Turnblad in New Line Cinema's Hairspray.  The awards ceremony will be held October 22 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The Festival has already named Hairspray's Neil Meron and Craig Zadan as Producers of the Year and will award the Hairspray cast the Ensemble Acting Awards.

"In a career that spans three decades, John Travolta has distinguished himself in film, stage and television performances and is undoubtedly one of the most prolific actors of our time. He has demonstrated his versatility in a string of successful comedy, drama, action and musical roles," state press materials.

First coming to national prominence in the TV sitcom "Welcome Back, Kotter," Travolta catapulted to super-stardom in the film Saturday Night Fever. He has been honored twice with Academy Award nominations, most recently for his portrayal of a philosophical hitman in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. He earned his first Oscar nomination for his role in the blockbuster Saturday Night Fever, which launched the disco phenomenon of the late 1970s. Travolta won a Golden Globe award for his performance as a Mafioso-turned-movie producer in the hit comedy Get Shorty, the Alan J. Pakula Award from the U.S. Broadcast Critics Association for his performance in A Civil Action, and a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in Primary Colors, directed by Mike Nichols and co-starring Emma Thompson and Billy Bob Thornton.

Travolta went on to star in Grease and the highly successful Urban Cowboy. Other film credits include the Brian DePalma thrillers Carrie and Blow Out, as well as Amy Heckerling's hit comedy Look Who's Talking.  Travolta starred in Phenomenon and in John Woo's action thriller Broken Arrow. He also starred in Face/Off opposite Nicolas Cage, The General's Daughter co-starring Madeleine Stowe, and in John McTiernan's Basic. John Travolta has also starred in Domestic Disturbance, directed by Harold Becker, Swordfish, directed by Dominic Sena, and the hit comedy Michael, directed by Nora Ephron.

Most recently, John Travolta has starred opposite Joaquin Phoenix in Ladder 49, in The Punisher co-starring Thomas Jane, in A Love Song for Bobby Long co-starring Scarlett Johansson, in Be Cool, co-starring Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel and Danny DeVito, in Lonely Hearts"opposite James Gandolfini, Jared Leto, and Selma Hayek, and in the comedy Wild Hogs opposite Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy.

The 2007 Annual Hollywood Film Festival will take place from October 17 to 22. The Festival's screenings take place at ArcLight Theatres in Hollywood. Its Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony will be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Monday, October 22.

"Hairspray, written by Leslie Dixon, produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron and directed by Adam Shankman, is the story of Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, who has only one passion -- dancing. Her dream is to appear on 'The Corny Collins Show,' Baltimore's hippest dance party on TV. Tracy (Nikki Blonsky) seems a natural fit for the show except for one not-so-little problem -- she doesn't fit in. However, when big hair meets big dreams anything can happen -- and does," state press notes.   The film features a screenplay by Leslie Dixon, who adapted it from Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell's original book, as well as a score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who contributed new songs to their existing Tony Award-winning score.

Based on the 1988 John Waters cult classic film and the critically acclaimed, Tony Award-winning Broadway hit musical, Hairspray features the all-star ensemble of John Travolta as Edna Turnblad, Michelle Pfeiffer as Velma Von Tussle, Christopher Walken as Wilbur Turnblad, Amanda Bynes as Penny Pingleton, James Marsden as Corny Collins, Queen Latifah as Motormouth Maybelle, Brittany Snow as Amber Von Tussle, Zac Efron as Link Larkin, Elijah Kelley as Seaweed, Allison Janney as Prudy Pingleton and introduces eighteen-year-old newcomer Nikki Blonsky in her professional debut.

Hairspray debuted in theaters on July 20 with the largest opening weekend gross ever for a musical film.