David Mamet, Paul Anka, Andy Garcia, and More Are Among New Kennedy Center Honorees

President Donald Trump and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Board of Trustees announced the lifetime achievement honorees for the 49th Kennedy Center Honors: Paul Anka, David Foster, Andy Garcia, David Mamet, and Barbara Mandrell.

This year’s ceremony will be held for the first time at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC, on December 7. The ceremony is typically held at the Kennedy Center, which is currently shut down.

Paul Anka has been writing and recording since he was 15 years old. His songs include “Diana,” “Puppy Love,” “(You’re) Having My Baby,” and “My Way,” which he wrote for Frank Sinatra.

Composer David Foster has 16 Grammy Awards, including three for Producer of the Year, an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe, and three Oscar nominations for best original song. Foster recently wrote the music to Boop! The Musical.

Actor Andy Garcia was nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe for his performance in in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather: Part III. He received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for his portrayal of Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval in HBO’s For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story. Other film credits include Ocean’s Eleven and sequels, the Book Club films, and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.

David Mamet is the Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright of Glengarry Glen Ross. Other plays include Oleanna, American Buffalo, Speed-the-Plow, and Race. His screenplays include The Untouchables and Wag the Dog. He is also a founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company.

Country singer Barbara Mandrell’s hit songs include a remake of Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” “Sleeping Single in a Double Bed,” “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right,” and “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool.” Mandrell and her sisters, Louise and Irlene had an NBC variety show, Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters.