| Year
|
Recipient
|
Profession
|
Nationality
|
Notes
|
| 1986
|
Gregory Peck
|
Actor
|
United States
|
|
| Gene Tierney
|
Actress
|
United States
|
The award to Tierney was announced prior to the festival, but was not handed as Tierney did not eventually travel to San Sebastián.
|
| 1987
|
Glenn Ford
|
Actor
|
Canada / United States
|
|
| 1988
|
Vittorio Gassman
|
Actor, filmmaker and screenwriter
|
Italy
|
|
| 1989
|
Bette Davis
|
Actress
|
United States
|
|
| 1990
|
Claudette Colbert
|
Actress
|
United States
|
|
| 1991
|
Anthony Perkins
|
Actor
|
United States
|
|
| 1992
|
Lauren Bacall
|
Actress
|
United States
|
|
| 1993
|
Robert Mitchum
|
Actor
|
United States
|
|
| 1994
|
Lana Turner
|
Actress
|
United States
|
|
| 1995
|
Susan Sarandon
|
Actress
|
United States
|
|
| Catherine Deneuve
|
Actress
|
France
|
|
| 1996
|
Al Pacino
|
Actor
|
United States
|
|
| 1997
|
Michael Douglas
|
Actor and producer
|
United States
|
|
| Jeremy Irons
|
Actor
|
United Kingdom
|
|
| 1998
|
Jeanne Moreau
|
Actress and filmmaker
|
France
|
|
| Anthony Hopkins
|
Actor, filmmaker and producer
|
United Kingdom
|
|
| John Malkovich
|
Actor
|
United States
|
|
| 1999
|
Anjelica Huston
|
Actress
|
United States
|
|
| Fernando Fernán Gómez
|
Actor, screenwriter and filmmaker
|
Spain
|
|
| Vanessa Redgrave
|
Actress
|
United Kingdom
|
|
| 2000
|
Michael Caine
|
Actor
|
United Kingdom
|
|
| Robert De Niro
|
Actor
|
United States
|
|
| 2001
|
Julie Andrews
|
Actress and singer
|
United Kingdom
|
The award was announced prior to the festival, but was not handed in person as Andrews cancelled her trip to San Sebastián in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
|
| Warren Beatty
|
Actor and filmmaker
|
United States
|
The award was announced prior to the festival, but was not handed in person as Beatty cancelled his trip to San Sebastián in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
|
| Francisco Rabal
|
Actor
|
Spain
|
Rabal died weeks before the festival, and the award was handed posthumously to his grandson Liberto Rabal [es].
|
| 2002
|
Jessica Lange
|
Actress
|
United States
|
|
| Bob Hoskins
|
Actor and filmmaker
|
United Kingdom
|
|
| Dennis Hopper
|
Actor and filmmaker
|
United States
|
|
| Francis Ford Coppola
|
Filmmaker, producer and screenwriter
|
United States
|
|
| 2003
|
Robert Duvall
|
Actor and filmmaker
|
United States
|
|
| Sean Penn
|
Actor and filmmaker
|
United States
|
|
| Isabelle Huppert
|
Actress
|
France
|
|
| 2004
|
Annette Bening
|
Actress
|
United States
|
|
| Jeff Bridges
|
Actor
|
United States
|
|
| Woody Allen
|
Actor, filmmaker and screenwriter
|
United States
|
|
| 2005
|
Willem Dafoe
|
Actor
|
United States
|
|
| Ben Gazzara
|
Actor
|
United States
|
|
| 2006
|
Max von Sydow
|
Actor
|
Sweden / France
|
|
| Matt Dillon
|
Actor
|
United States
|
|
| 2007
|
Liv Ullmann
|
Actress and filmmaker
|
Norway
|
|
| Richard Gere
|
Actor
|
United States
|
|
| 2008
|
Meryl Streep
|
Actress
|
United States
|
|
| Antonio Banderas
|
Actor and filmmaker
|
Spain
|
|
| 2009
|
Ian McKellen
|
Actor
|
United Kingdom
|
|
| 2010
|
Julia Roberts
|
Actress
|
United States
|
|
| 2011
|
Glenn Close
|
Actress
|
United States
|
|
| 2002
|
Oliver Stone
|
Filmmaker, producer and screenwriter
|
United States
|
|
| Ewan McGregor
|
Actor
|
United Kingdom
|
|
| Tommy Lee Jones
|
Actor
|
United States
|
|
| John Travolta
|
Actor
|
United States
|
|
| Dustin Hoffman
|
Actor
|
United States
|
|
| 2013
|
Carmen Maura
|
Actress
|
Spain
|
|
| Hugh Jackman
|
Actor
|
Australia
|
|
| 2014
|
Denzel Washington
|
Actor, producer and filmmaker
|
United States
|
|
| Benicio del Toro
|
Actor
|
Puerto Rico
|
|
| 2015
|
Emily Watson
|
Actress
|
United Kingdom
|
|
| 2016
|
Sigourney Weaver
|
Actress
|
United States
|
|
| Ethan Hawke
|
Actor, filmmaker and screenwriter
|
United States
|
|
| 2017
|
Ricardo Darín
|
Actor and producer
|
Argentina
|
|
| Monica Bellucci
|
Actress
|
Italy
|
|
| Agnès Varda
|
Filmmaker, screenwriter and artist
|
France
|
|
| 2018
|
Hirokazu Kore-eda
|
Filmmaker, producer, screenwriter and editor
|
Japan
|
|
| Danny DeVito
|
Actor and filmmaker
|
United States
|
|
| Judi Dench
|
Actress
|
United Kingdom
|
|
| 2019
|
Penélope Cruz
|
Actress
|
Spain
|
|
| Costa-Gavras
|
Filmmaker, producer and screenwriter
|
Greece / France
|
|
| Donald Sutherland
|
Actor
|
Canada
|
|
| 2020
|
Viggo Mortensen
|
Actor
|
United States / Denmark
|
|
| 2021
|
Johnny Depp
|
Actor
|
United States
|
|
| Marion Cotillard
|
Actress
|
France
|
|
| 2022
|
Juliette Binoche
|
Actress
|
France
|
|
| David Cronenberg
|
Filmmaker, screenwriter and actor
|
Canada
|
|
| 2023
|
Javier Bardem
|
Actor
|
Spain
|
The award to Bardem was announced for the 2023 edition, but the award event was later postponed for the 2024 edition due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.
|
| Víctor Erice
|
Filmmaker and screenwriter
|
Spain
|
|
| Hayao Miyazaki
|
Animator and filmmaker
|
Japan
|
Miyazaki was handed the award virtually from Tokyo.
|
| 2024
|
Cate Blanchett
|
Actress
|
Australia
|
|
| Pedro Almodóvar
|
Filmmaker and screenwriter
|
Spain
|
|