José Andrés‘s banner year continues. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday that the DC chef is among the celebrities who will present one of the Best Picture nominees during this weekend’s Academy Awards ceremony. Andrés and ten others were tapped by the Academy as “highly recognized talents from various walks of life” to introduce one of the eight films for the night’s most anticipated award.
Dana Carvey, Queen Latifah, Congressman John Lewis, Diego Luna, Tom Morello, Mike Myers, Trevor Noah, Amandla Stenberg, Barbra Streisand, and Serena Williams will join Andrés; it’s unclear at this time who will exactly present what (though film savants could easily make some educated guesses). This is not Andrés’s first time on the famed red carpet. Last year, Andrés joined a group of activists onstage during Andra Day and Common‘s performance of “Stand Up for Something” from the film Marshall.
Super happy to go to the Oscars ceremony tonight for first time in my life with my wife….. pic.twitter.com/PXMt7i8kYe
— Chef José Andrés 🕊️🥘🍳 (@chefjoseandres) March 4, 2018
Since last year’s ceremony, Andrés’s philanthropy via his ThinkFoodGroup and World Central Kitchen has showed no signs of slowing down. During the recent government shutdown, Andrés’ nonprofit served meals to over 10,000 furloughed federal workers. In turn, he joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at this month’s State of the Union address.
Neither Andrés nor Lewis responded immediately to requests for comment. The 91st Academy Awards will air on ABC this Sunday at 8 PM.
Brittany Shepherd covers the societal and cultural scene in political Washington. Before joining Washingtonian as a staff writer in 2018, Brittany was a White House Correspondent for Independent Journal Review. While she has lived in DC for a number of years now, she still yearns for the fresh Long Island bagels of home. Find her on Twitter, often prattling on about Frasier.
