Al Pacino to Receive Oxford Prize

Tony, Emmy, and Oscar winner Al Pacino will be the first recipient of The Oxford Prize, an award given by the Oxford Shakespeare Company in honor of the actor’s outstanding artistic achievements in bringing Shakespeare to the public.

The award consists of an original statuette created by New York City sculptor Joe Sorge, and a one-year scholarship named in honor of the award recipient given to a promising actor to the OSC school, allowing him/her at no cost to attend classes and production workshops, which culminate in a new Shakespeare production every month. The recipient of the Al Pacino Scholarship is New York actor Frank Franconeri.

Pacino is currently starring as Shylock in the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park presentation of The Merchant of Venice. He is a two-time Tony Award winner for his work in Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? and The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel. His other Broadway appearances include American Buffalo, Hughie, and Salome.

He is an eight-time Oscar nominee, winning for Scent of a Woman. His many films include The Godfather trilogy, Dog Day Afternoon, Glengarry Glen Ross, and Frankie and Johnny, and he won the Emmy Award for his portrayal of Roy Cohn in HBO’s miniseries version of Angels in America.

For more information, visit OSCtheatre.org.