Academy Award nominee Colin Firth will be honored with the Outstanding Performance of the Year Award for his role in Tom Ford's A Single Man in a special ceremony tomorrow at the 25th Santa Barbara International Film Festival. In the film, Firth plays George Falconer, a gay British professor in 1962 who is struggling to find meaning in his life following the death of his longtime partner (Matthew Goode) in a car accident. In Firth's most heart-wrenching scene, he receives the phone call informing him of his partner's death and is told that the funeral is for "family only" and he may not attend. In addition to this award and his Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, this role has also earned Firth recognition the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild, and the Broadcast Film Critics Association, to name a few.

“Colin Firth grabs on to the best role of his career in ‘A Single Man’ forcing us to have another look at his incredible list of films up to this point,” commented SBIFF executive director Roger Durling in a statement. “He’s one of the most enduring performers working in cinema today, and we’re so thrilled that we’re honoring this most deserving actor at the peak of his game.”

The Outstanding Performance of the Year Award will be presented to Firth tomorrow at the historic Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara, CA. For information on how to purchase tickets, please visit the Santa Barbara International Film Festival's official website.