The 55-year-old Spanish chef, restaurateur and philanthropist is among the 19 individuals who have received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, from President Joe Biden.
During a special ceremony on Saturday, Andrés was recognized for his work with the World Central Kitchen, the organization he founded that the White House says “has revolutionized the way food aid reaches communities affected by natural disasters and conflict around the world.”
Biden praised Andrés’ unwavering commitment to nourishing communities affected by disasters.
“You answered the call to serve and led others to do the same thing,” President Biden said, addressing the award recipients during the ceremony. “You leave an incredible mark on our country, of insight and influence that can be felt around the globe—in major cities and remote areas alike—binding us closer as people and showing us what’s possible as a nation.”
In 2010, Andrés traveled to Haiti after a devastating earthquake, determined to help. While cooking with displaced families, he learned to prepare black beans the Haitian way—mashed and sieved into a creamy sauce. For José, it wasn’t just about providing food but about listening, learning, and cooking alongside locals. This approach to food aid became the foundation of WCK. Since then, we have served more than 450 million meals to people impacted by crises worldwide.
“José nourishes not only bodies but hearts, in his humanitarian endeavors. His impact on the world will resonate for generations”, WCK CEO Erin Gore said. “This honor reflects his extraordinary global contributions and the deep humanity that defines him. He inspires us all.”
WCK teams are currently on the ground in Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine, Spain, Mayotte and North Carolina supporting families affected by conflict and natural disaster.
Biden also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Lionel Messi, who was unable to attend the ceremony.
The White House cited the 37-year-old Argentine professional soccer star, who plays for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami, for his philanthropic efforts, including the Leo Messi Foundation and his work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador as part of the basis for the award.
Per USA Today, Messi was “deeply honored” by the award and hoped to have a chance to meet Biden in the near future.
Other recipients of the medal included U2 front man Bono, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, actor Michael J. Fox, software programmer and activist Tim Gill, primatologist Jane Goodall, fashion designer Ralph Lauren, science educator Bill Nye, investment firm owner David M. Rubenstein, philanthropist George Soros, director George Stevens Jr., actor Denzel Washington and fashion editor Anna Wintour.
Former Secretary of Defense Ashton Baldwin Carter, civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, former attorney general Robert Francis Kennedy and former Secretary of Housing and Urban DevelopmentGeorge W. Romney were all honored with the award posthumously.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has released its annual list of invitations to join the organization, with the 26-year-old Mexican actress and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Indigenous Peoples among the 819 extended an invite.
Aparicio, one of Timemagazine’s100 most influential people in the world in 2019,earned an Oscar nod in the Best Actress category for her performance in Alfonso Cuarón‘s 2018 Spanish-language drama Roma. With the nomination for her actig debut, she became the first Indigenous American woman and the second Mexican woman to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination.
But Aparcio isn’t the only Latino/a to make the list…
Other invitees in the Actors branch include Bobby Cannavale, who appeared in The Irishman, Overboard’s Eva Longoria, Knives Out star Ana de Armas and Gringo actor Yul Vazquez.
Invitees in the Music branch include Andrea Guerra (Hotel Rwanda) and Cuban-American jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, who worked on the music for Clint Eastwood’s films Richard Jewell and The Mule.
The Directors branch sent out invitations to Latino filmmakers Icíar Bolláin (Spanish), Felipe Cazals (Mexican), Sebastián Cordero (Ecuadorian), Luis Estrada (Mexican), Alejandro Landes (Colombian-Ecuadorian),Jorge Alí Triana (Colombian) and Andrés Wood (Chilean).
This year’s new class demonstrates The Academy’s commitment to erasing the stigma of not being inclusive, particularly in terms of women, international members and underrepresented ethnic/racial communities.
The organization reports this year’s class breakdown is 49% international, 45% women, and 36% underrepresented ethnic/racial.
The overwhelming number of those invited to join the Academy end up accepting.
The total active membership in 2019 was 8,946, with 8,733 eligible to vote. Total membership including active, voting and retired was 9,794. Today’s additions will take the membership count past the 10,000 mark.
AMPAS says members can voluntarily disclose their race/ethnicity, sex or can choose “prefer not to.” So, demo stats may not be 100% accurate. AMPAS also “recognizes and respects” the personal choice in identification, but doesn’t track LGBTQ+ or differently abled, although a source says, while protecting privacy and not forcing answers, they are “working towards it.” In other words this is no longer your father’s Academy.
“We take great pride in the strides we have made in exceeding our initial inclusion goals set back in 2016, but acknowledge the road ahead is a long one,” said Academy CEO Dawn Hudson. “We are committed to staying the course.”
“The Academy is delighted to welcome these distinguished fellow travelers in the motion picture arts and sciences. We have always embraced extraordinary talent that reflects the rich variety of our global film community, and never more so than now,” said Academy President David Rubin.
Here’s a look at some of this year’s Latino invitees:
Actors Yalitza Aparicio – “Roma” Bobby Cannavale – “The Irishman,” “The Station Agent” Ana de Armas – “Knives Out,” “Blade Runner 2049” Eva Longoria – “Overboard,” “Harsh Times” Yul Vazquez – “Gringo,” “Last Flag Flying”
Casting Directors Libia Batista – “Eres Tú Papá?,” “Viva” Javier Braier – “The Two Popes,” “Wild Tales” Eva Leira – “Pain and Glory,” “Biutiful” Yesi Ramirez – “The Hate U Give,” “Moonlight” Yolanda Serrano – “Pain and Glory,” “Biutiful”
Directors Icíar Bolláin – “Even the Rain,” “Take My Eyes” Felipe Cazals – “El Año de la Peste,” “Canoa: A Shameful Memory” Sebastián Cordero – “Europa Report,” “Crónicas” Luis Estrada – “The Perfect Dictatorship,” “Herod’s Law” Alejandro Landes – “Monos,” “Porfirio” Jorge Alí Triana – “Bolívar Soy Yo,” “A Time to Die” Andrés Wood – “Araña,” “Violeta Went to Heaven”
Documentary Cristina Amaral – “Um Filme de Verão (A Summer Film),” “Person” Violeta Ayala – “Cocaine Prison,” “The Bolivian Case” Julia Bacha – “Naila and the Uprising,” “Budrus” Almudena Carracedo – “The Silence of Others,” “Made in L.A.” Paola Castillo – “Beyond My Grandfather Allende,” “Genoveva” Paz Encina – “Memory Exercises,” “Paraguayan Hammock” Mariana Oliva – “The Edge of Democracy,” “Piripkura” Iván Osnovikoff – “Los Reyes,” “La Muerte de Pinochet (The Death of Pinochet)” Tiago Pavan – “The Edge of Democracy,” “Olmo and the Seagull” Bettina Perut – “Los Reyes,” “La Muerte de Pinochet (The Death of Pinochet)” Marta Rodriguez – “Our Voice of Earth, Memory and Future,” “Campesinos (Peasants)”
Executives Ozzie Areu Barbara Peiro Frank Rodriguez Mimi Valdes
Film Editors Alejandro Carrillo Penovi – “Heroic Losers,” “The Clan” Alex Marquez – “Snowden,” “Savages”
Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Mari Paz Robles – “I Dream in Another Language,” “Cantinflas” David Ruiz Gameros – “Tear This Heart Out,” “Amores Perros” Susana Sánchez – “The Liberator,” “Goya’s Ghosts”
Marketing and Public Relations Inma Carbajal-Fogel Emmanuelle Castro Fernando Garcia Dustin M. Sandoval
Music Andrea Guerra – “The Pursuit of Happyness,” “Hotel Rwanda” Arturo Sandoval – “Richard Jewell,” “The Mule”
Producers Edher Campos – “Sonora, the Devil’s Highway,” “The Golden Dream” Nicolas Celis – “Roma,” “Tempestad” Alex Garcia – “Kong: Skull Island,” “Desierto” Enrique López Lavigne – “The Impossible,” “Sex and Lucia” Álvaro Longoria – “Everybody Knows,” “Finding Altamira” Mónica Lozano – “I Dream in Another Language,” “Instructions Not Included” Gabriela Maire – “Las Niñas Bien (The Good Girls),” “La Caridad (Charity)” Luis Manso – “Champions,” “Binta and the Great Gabriela Rodríguez – “Roma,” “Gravity” Mar Targarona – “Secuestro (Boy Missing),” “The Orphanage” Luis Urbano – “Letters from War,” “Tabu”
Production Design Sandra Cabriada – “Instructions Not Included,” “The Mexican” Estefanía Larraín – “A Fantastic Woman,” “Neruda”
Short Films and Feature Animation José David Figueroa García – “Perfidia,” “Ratitas” Oscar Grillo – “Monsters, Inc.,” “Monsieur Pett” Otto Guerra – “City of Pirates,” “Wood & Stock: Sexo, Orégano e Rock’n’Roll” Isabel Herguera – “Winter Love,” “Under the Pillow” Summer Joy Main-Muñoz – “Don’t Say No,” “La Cerca” Juan Pablo Zaramella – “Luminaris,” “The Glove”
Sound David Esparza – “The Magnificent Seven,” “The Equalizer”
Visual Effects Leandro Estebecorena – “The Irishman,” “Kong: Skull Island”
Members-at-Large Daniel Molina Carlos Morales Jesse Torres
The 50-year-old Puerto Rican singer will be honored with the Jenni Rivera Legacy Award at the sixth edition of the Premios Tu Mundo, according to Telemundo.
Tañon, a multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy winner, is being recognized for her more than 25 years in music, as well as her philanthropic achievements.
Tañon has used her voice to seek change, serving as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and lending her talent for charitable causes including benefit songs, “Somos El Mundo,” “El Ultimo Ádios” and “Nuestro Himno.”
On the Billboard charts, Tañon holds the record for most top 10 hits (27 to be exact) for a female artist on the Billboard Tropical Airplay chart.
But Tañon won’t be the night’s only honoree…
The legendary Panamanian-born Spanish singer Miguel Bosé will receive the El Poder en Ti award to honor his “unlimited fame power” that helps thousands of people through different non profit organizations worldwide, such as Fundacion Patrimonio Indigena MX (of which he is president), his Gala SIDA fundraising event in Spain and the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation to fund a full $200,000 scholarship to a Berklee College of Music student pursuing a career in Latin music.
Telemundo will honor TV host Maria Celeste Arraras with the Estrella de Tu Mundo Award in celebration of her 15 years hosting the news show Al Rojo Vivo.
This year, boy band CNCO leads the nominations for the Premios Tu Mundo awards, that will be broadcast live on August 24, 2017 at 8:00 pm.ET from the American Airlines Arena in Miami.
The 39-year-old Colombian superstar, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and founder of the Pies Descalzos Foundation, which provides education for children in Colombia, received a humanitarian award at the World Economic Forum as it kicked off in Davos, Switzerland.
“We should be devastated that, in 2017, there are still 250 million kids under 5 who are still at risk, who will likely be stunted physically and intellectually,” Shakira said in a speech while accepting the WEF’s Crystal Award.
“Now take that in for a second. We’re talking about nearly the population of an entire country the size of the U.S. This is a tragedy for those children and an epic, epic failure for all of us.”
Shakira urged global government, business and academic leaders to advocate for the world’s children.
“We need to apply the brains and strategies of business and the assets and human resources and talents of your companies to do social good and to solve social problems,” she said, speaking passionately in English.
“Today’s babies will drive tomorrow’s business. Their capacity to contribute will shape tomorrow’s societies, will solve tomorrow’s problems.”
The WEF also gave humanitarian awards to violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, whose educational foundation provides scholarships and finances instruments for young musicians, and actor Forest Whitaker, who has worked as an advocate for youth empowerment in violent and impoverished communities.
“Meet our baby boy Milan,” Shakira tweeted on Monday, along with a link to the digital charity baby shower she’s holding with UNICEF. The singer was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2003.
But don’t look for Shakira in the photo. Instead, baby Milan gets a kiss from his father, FC Barcelona star GerardPiqué.
During a special ceremony on Saturday, Andrés was recognized for his work with the World Central Kitchen, the organization he founded that the White House says “has revolutionized the way food aid reaches communities affected by natural disasters and conflict around the world.”
