James Marsden takes 2011 Spotlight Award

James Marsden is the recipient of the 2011 Spotlight award. Photo by Caroline Smith

By Augusta Statz
After a brief montage of actor James Marsden’s career, he stepped on stage to receive this year’s Spotlight Award. The montage recalled times of Marsden’s early acting years on TV shows and moved into clips from his more recent films.

In reference to the montage, he said, “That just couldn’t get to the ‘X-Men’ stuff fast enough.” Marsden explained that he’s been acting since he was 19. “[I’ve been] doing this half of my life,” he said.

Having received the award, Marsden is now in the ranks of Jeremy Renner and Hugh Dancy, who were honored in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

On his interaction with students during his stay at the festival Marsden had this to say:

“To all you young filmmakers, your enthusiasm, curiosity, drive — it got me excited to do this again.”