Comic actress Lily Tomlin will receive a Screen Actor’s Guild Life Achievement Award next year. She’s believed to be the first openly gay actress to receive the gong.
The 76-year-old first rose to fame on the 1970s variety show Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In and went on to star in films like 9 to 5 and All of Me.
SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris told Variety that SAG was honoured the bestow the award on the “truly amazing” actress.
“Lily Tomlin is an extraordinary actress, as equally adept at narrative drama as in comedy roles.
“But it is through her many original characters that Lily’s creative genius fully shines. She has an ability to create diverse and distinct characters that are at once familiar, eccentric, and oh so honest — in a way that illuminates life’s hidden corners.”
Lily Tomlin is currently filming the third season of Netflix comedy Grace & Frankie. She and co-star Jane Fonda play two women whose husbands turn their lives upside down by announcing they’ve fallen in love with each other. Lily was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress Emmys in 2015 and 2016 for the role.
Lily married her partner Jane Wagner in 2013 after decades together.
She’ll receive the SAG award in January next year.
Read more about Lily here.
More extraordinary lesbians here.
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