John Malkovich will receive the Outstanding Performer of the Year Award at the 2027 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, SBIFF organizers announced on Thursday.

Malkovich will receive the award for his performance in Martin McDonagh’s “Wild Horse Nine,” in which he and Sam Rockwell play CIA agents who travel from Chile to Easter Island in the run-up to the 1973 Chilean coup that overthrew the Salvador Allende government. His comic performance as a man planning to write a book that could spill CIA secrets has made him one of the frontrunners in this year’s Oscar Best Actor race.

The Searchlight film had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where Malkovich won the best actor award from a jury headed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. “Wild Horse Nine” also screened at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals before its Nov. 6 theatrical release.

“A legendary actor gives … his best performance to date in which he combines pathos, volatility, vulnerability and tenderness,” SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling said in a statement. “It’s a high wire act that shows us what a commanding artist he is.”

Malkovich has been nominated for Academy Awards for “Places in the Heart” and “In the Line of Fire,” and has also appeared in “Dangerous Liasons,” “The Killing Fields,” “Burn After Reading,” “Con Air,” “Shadow of the Vampire,” “In the Hand of Dante” and “Being John Malkovich.”  

Past winners of the Outstanding Performer of the Year Award include Michael B. Jordan, Cate Blanchett, Bradley Cooper, Adam Driver, Jennifer Lawrence and Viola Davis.

The award will be presented to Malkovich on Feb. 12, 2027. The 42nd annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival will run from Feb. 3 through Feb. 13 in the coastal town north of Los Angeles.