Academy Award® and Tony Award ® winning actress Marcia Gay Harden will be in Phoenix Arizona on Saturday, March 31 to receive the coveted Copper Wing Tribute Award at the 12th Annual Phoenix Film Festival.

“Searing,” “heartbreaking,” “inventive,” “pure and profane simultaneously,”  “astonishing,” “authentic,” and “sensuous;” as a chameleon changes from role to role, so has Marcia Gay Harden in her body of work.   Known for her signature style of “becoming the character, she has forged a remarkable resumé that has touched fans and critics alike.  Starring in roles ranging from the glamorous Ava Gardner in Sinatra, to the artist Lee Krasner in Pollock (for which she won Best Supporting Actress Oscar®), to the down and out Celeste in Mystic River (another Academy Award® nomination), Harden has truly created a unique identity based largely in character transformation. Her roles in films Millers Crossing, The First Wives Club, Meet Joe Black, Mona Lisa Smile, The Hoax, and Used People have all been praised for their versatility and wide-range on-screen.

Harden will also attend the Arizona premiere of her new film, If I Were You, at the festival; in which she plays Madelyn, a successful, self-possessed, middle-aged businesswoman who discovers her husband is having an affair.  Her attempts to stalk his young mistress take a surprising turn and the two wind up forming a rather unconventional pact.  If I Were You is described as a charming, very funny look at the unexpected places life can take us.  It co-stars Leonor Watling and Aidan Quinn.

Previous winners of the Copper Wing Tribute Award, considered the Festival’s most prestigious award, include Laurence Fishburne, Kevin Bacon, Peter Fonda, Cuba Gooding Jr., Robert Forster, and Virginia Madsen.

The 12th Annual Phoenix film Festival takes place at Harkins Scottsdale 101 Theaters located at 7000 E. Mayo Blvd. Phoenix, AZ 85054.