Matt Bomer as Hawkins “Hawk” Fuller in ‘Fellow Travelers’
Kurt Iswarienko/SHOWTIME
Matt Bomer is set to receive The Hollywood Reporter’s Trailblazer Award at SCAD TVfest next month in Atlanta.
The star and producer of Showtime’s Fellow Travelers will be honored on Feb. 7 for his contributions to storytelling in both television and film, namely in helping to boost visibility for LGBTQ+ stories and characters.
As part of the presentation, Bomer will sit down with THR contributing editor Stacey Wilson Hunt for a career-retrospective chat about his most high-profile roles, including in USA’s White Collar, HBO’s The Normal Heart, Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike franchise, his current turn as Leonard Bernstein’s lover David Oppenheim in Netflix’s Best Picture contender Maestro and more.
Bomer’s performance in Travelers, which is currently streaming on Paramount+, has netted him numerous accolades in advance of the 2024 Emmy season, including Golden Globe, Critics Choice, SAG and People’s Choice award nominations.
THR’s Trailblazer Award, whose recent honorees include David Oyelowo, Eva Longoria and America Ferrera, is given to artists and industry leaders whose work pushes the boundaries of culture and seeks to illuminate stories and characters that have been traditionally marginalized in Hollywood and the global entertainment marketplace.
Based on the book by Thomas Mallon and written for the screen by Ron Nyswaner, Fellow Travelers has been heralded by LGTBQ+ advocates for being a rare, expansive gay-centered love story: In 1950s Washington D.C., government employees Hawkins Fuller (Bomer) and Timothy Laughlin (Jonathan Bailey) begin a forbidden romance that spans the Vietnam War, the drug-fueled 1970s and the 1980s AIDS crisis.
GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis, writing for The Hollywood Reporter on Dec. 15, emphasized the poignant timeliness of Travelers, whose themes she wrote mirror those of current events.
“Fellow Travelers is airing at a time when new political and cultural issues threaten our equality. Politicians are blatantly targeting trans people, using them as political pawn, and running political campaigns that leverage fear tactics to rob them of basic rights and dignity. … By showcasing LGBTQ history and hardship, Hollywood can help stop it from repeating.”
SCAD TVfest, the signature event of Savannah College of Art and Design celebrating television, is now its 12th year and will be held in Atlanta from Feb. 7-10 at the new, state-of-the-art SCADshow theater.
Passes are on sale starting Jan. 25 at scadtvfest.com and individual ticket sales will begin on Jan. 31.