Willem Dafoe honoured with first Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2024

Dafoe, who has featured in almost 150 films, was felicitated on Monday afternoon in California

Actor Willem Dafoe has become the first celebrity to be honoured with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star this year. Dafoe, who has featured in almost 150 films, was felicitated on Monday afternoon in California, as reported by CNN. His wife, Giada Colagrande, attended the event, as did his friends and former co-stars Pedro Pascal, Patricia Arquette, Mark Ruffalo, and Camila Morrone.

During his speech, he expressed gratitude for being part of a community of artists and entertainers. He said, "I just want to say it's wonderful to be part of this community of artists and entertainers, people that -- by sharing their experience, imagining others' perspectives, telling stories, and musing on what is, was, and most importantly could be. They make us feel closer to each other and connect us, creating an important dialogue particularly needed in these detached, technology-driven and divisive times. So I'm glad to be with people like this and hopefully we're making this a better world somehow."

The actor wrapped his speech by giving a shout-out to his wife and director Giada Colagrande. He said, "Finally, thank you to my wife Giada Colagrande, who teaches me gratitude and reminds me not to spit on my luck." Dafoe and Giada Colagrande, have worked on four films together: Padre, A Woman, Before It Had A Name, and the documentary Bob Wilson's Life And Death Of Marina Abramovic.

During the event, prominent Hollywood actors Pedro Pascal and Patricia Arquette paid tribute to Dafoe's compassion and talent, with Pascal describing him as "the greatest American actor of our lifetime," as per CNN reported. Dafoe, one of Hollywood's most versatile performers, having portrayed variety of roles from a loquacious lighthouse keeper in The Lighthouse to a criminal in David Lynch's Wild At Heart to Vincent van Gogh in At Eternity's Gate.

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Most recently, he played a rebel scientist in Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things, as per CNN reports. He has received four Oscar nominations: one for best actor for his depiction of Van Gogh, and three for best supporting actor.