Los Angeles: Hollywood's sweetheart, Jennifer Aniston was honored on November 7, with the Artists Inspiration Award for using her celebrity platform to advance humanitarian and philanthropic causes.
Aniston has been a strong advocate for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for over ten years.
"It's emotional, it feels very historic. This has been my union. They've supported me for so many years. It's just very kind of surreal, to be honest."
Hulk star Mark Ruffalo was given the same honor. He's been a supporter of the LGBT community, and is a renewable energy advocate.
"It's a culmination of many, many years of being out there doing what I think we all should be doing, you know. But I'm really here for all the people that I've stood shoulder to shoulder with all these years in affected communities, most of them really powerful women who've given me my marching orders all these years. And, and I see this as an award for them as much as it is for me," he said.
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Director Ava DuVernay was given the Patron of the Artist Award by her friend and Selma star David Oyelowo.
"She's basically the big sister I never had," he said. "And we share a very, very deep connection creatively and, you know, just as friends. I've done four films, I think, with her at this stage. And that's an amazing thing to be able to say when it comes to a director who I truly consider a genius."
The event was the fourth annual gala by the SAG-AFTRA Foundation which also included musical performances by Patty Austin, Cynthia Erivo and Chrissy Metz.
With inputs from APTN
