George Clooney Chaplin Gala Tribute Reveals 2026 Presenters

Eight years after George Clooney received the AFI Life Achievement Award in Los Angeles, he’s up for another splashy gala tribute, this time in New York: the 51st Chaplin Award Gala, held at Alice Tully Hall in Manhattan on Monday, April 27.

Film at Lincoln Center, which hosts the fundraising event, annually assembles a colorful cast of past collaborators, maybe future ones, and admirers for this event, like last year pairing Dua Lipa and John Waters with Pedro Almodóvar.

For this year’s Chaplin Gala, the Alice Tully Hall stage will feature Stephen Colbert, whose “Late Show” debut in 2015 featured Clooney as the first guest; Emmy Award winner Julianna Margulies, who co-starred with Clooney in his breakout series “ER”; Oscar winner Sam Rockwell, whom Clooney directed in the film “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind”; and Emmy-winner John Turturro, Clooney’s co-star in “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

Colbert’s appearance comes just under a month ahead of his last “Late Show,” which airs its final episode under CBS on May 21.

The Gala will feature excerpts from Clooney’s multi-Oscar-winning body of work as an actor, director, producer, and humanitarian — with appearances by actors, friends, and colleagues, and the award presentation.

Proceeds from the gala benefit Film at Lincoln Center‘s year-round programming, including film series, education initiatives, and events like New York Film Festival and New Directors/New Films.

Past recipients also include Jeff Bridges, Viola Davis, Robert De Niro, Barbara Streisand, Sidney Poitier, Michael Caine, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Altman, Billy Wilder, and Elizabeth Taylor. A full list of honorees can be found here.

For information about attending the Gala, please contact [email protected].