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Sunday Spotlight: Meet the Princess Grace Award winning Actors

In celebration of our friends at the Princess Grace Foundation-USA launching their 2021 Awards program applications, we welcome you back to our “Sunday Spotlight” series. Throughout this series, we recognize many of the incredible artists who have previously been awarded by the Princess Grace Foundation-USA.

For our second installment of our Sunday Spotlight, we’re excited to introduce a couple of our renowned Princess Grace Award Winning actors. Whether you’re watching them live on stage or viewing on the big screen, you’re bound to recognize a few of their faces.

The Princess Grace Foundation-USA is dedicated to honoring the legacy of Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco, (neé Grace Kelly). The Foundation honors Her continued influence by educating and inspiring the world to ensure Her purpose and passions live on. Her commitment to advance the arts in the United States is sustained by the Princess Grace Awards which supports and elevates extraordinary early career artists in theater, dance and film through game-changing grants; and nurtures and supports Princess Grace Award winners throughout their careers.

Applications for the Princess Grace Awards 2021 remain open until Monday, February 15.

Oscar Isaac

Acting 2004

In 2020 The New York Times ranked Oscar at #14 in their definitive list of the “Greatest Actors of the 21st Century (so far)” but the Princess Grace Foundation has had its eye on him since he was a student at Juilliard’s prestigious School of Drama. It was there in 2004 that Oscar received his Princess Grace Award, alongside fellow Award winner and frequent creative collaborator, Sam Gold.

Oscar Isaac in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Watch him in Star Wars, Inside Llewyn Davis.

Upcoming: Dune, The Card Counter

Leslie Odom Jr.

Acting 2002

The Princess Grace Foundation has been “in the room where it happens” (we can never pass up the opportunity for a Hamilton pun) with Leslie since 2002, when he was a student at Carnegie Mellon. A true artist, Leslie’s multi-hyphenate career now spans from Broadway artist, leading man on the silver screen, music sensation, and, in the spirit of Princess Grace - philanthropist, joining the Board of Trustees of the Princess Grace Foundation in 2019.

Leslie Odon Jr. as Aaron Burr in Hamilton on Broadway on left, Lin Manuel-Miranda on right — Leslie Odon Jr. as Aaron Burr in Hamilton on Broadway

Watch him in One Night in Miami, Hamilton on Disney+ and listen to his album “Mr”. Upcoming: Needle in a Timestack

Carly Hughes

Acting 2003

Fans of made-for-TV holiday classics may know Carly from 2020’s The Christmas Edition, but you may also know her from her scene stealing role as Angela on American Housewife, on Broadway as the leading player in Pippin, or as Velma Kelly in Chicago. But before all that, Carly was an aspiring actor studying at Pennsylvania State University when she received her Princess Grace Award in 2003.

Carly Hughes stars as Leading Player in the Broadway revival of Pippin. (© Joan Marcus)

Watch her in The Christmas Edition, American Housewife.

Upcoming: Carly will host Theatre Forward’s Virtual Gala on February 8 and in February will star in the virtual production of Chicken and Biscuits at The Directors Company

Moses Ingram

Acting 2018

One of 2020’s surprise hits was the Netflix drama, The Queen’s Gambit. However, it came as no surprise to the Princess Grace Foundation that one of the most lauded performances from the series was none other than Moses Ingram, for the role of "Jolene". A graduate from Yale School of Drama, Moses received her Princess Grace Award in 2018 while she was in her final year of school.