AceShowbiz -

Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones is entitled for an honor from Santa Barbara International Film Festival, which will celebrate its 23rd anniversary on January 24-February 3, 2007 in downtown Santa Barbara.

The renowned thespian will be the recipient of American Riviera Award, given to an actor who has had a strong influence on American cinema. Past honorees included fellow Oscar winners Forest Whitaker and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Jones thereby is the latest Hollywood name to be announced as an award recipient at the upcoming festival. Others already mentioned were Angelina Jolie as the recipient of the Outstanding Performance of the Year Award, Javier Bardem as that of the Montecito Award, and John Travolta as that of the second annual Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film.

Jones, a 1969 graduate of Harvard University, shot to worldwide fame after appearing opposite Harrison Ford in 1993's "The Fugitive" which won him an Oscar for best supporting actor the next year. He once was the original choice to play Snake Plissken in John Carpenter's 1981 actioner "Escape from New York", but the part ultimately went to Kurt Russell instead.