On Friday, February 22, Shadow And Act will host its first annual RISING Awards in downtown Los Angeles, honoring the entertainment industry’s rising stars in four categories: Actors/Actresses, Executives, Creators (filmmakers, writers, producers) and Behind-the-Scenes stars (stylists, make-up artists, crew-members).

For his consistent excellence in depicting the revolutionary depth of Black love on screen, the 2019 Game-Changer Award winner is Barry Jenkins, who will keynote the event. Kendall Kyndall and Jasmine Luv will host the ceremony. While the awards brunch is a private, invite-only event, the day party celebration preceding the brunch in downtown Los Angeles is open to the public. Tickets are available here. Here are the 2019 RISING Award honorees: ACTORS/ACTRESSES Carvens Lissaint - Hamilton Broadway Lil Rel - Get Out; BirdBox; Rel Logan Browning - Dear White People Lovie Simone - Greenleaf; Selah and the Spades Marcus Scribner - Black-Ish Nafessa Williams - Black Lightning Tequan Richmond - Boomerang Tetona Jackson - Boomerang EXECUTIVES Alana Mayo - Outlier Society, Head of Production Franklin Leonard - The Blacklist, Founder Jermaine Johnson - 3 Arts Management, Manager, Producer John Agbaje - FX, Manager of Animated Series Jon Gist - Universal, Director of Multicultural Publicity and Promotions Joy Ganes - BBC Studios, VP, Business/Legal Affairs Olivia Morris - TBS, Director of Development, Original Scripted Programming Paige Simpson - Will Packer Studios, Manager of Scripted TV CREATORS (writers, filmmakers, directors, producers, etc.) Amanda Jones - Composer Ben Cory Jones - Writer, Insecure; Showrunner, Boomerang James Bland - Producer of Giants series Kelley Kali - Filmmaker, Lalo’s House Kemiyondo Coutinho - Filmmaker, Kyenvu Lucien Christian - Writer, David Makes Man Nijla Mu’min - Writer/Filmmaker Jinn Sam Bailey - Writer/ Director- Web Series You're So Talented BEHIND-THE-SCENES STARS Apuje Kalu - Wardrobe Stylist Bryon Javar - Wardrobe Stylist Candis Welch - Executive Assistant Evan Seymour - Allied Global Marketing, Multicultural Publicity Team Lead James Ward, III - OWN, Senior Manager, Communications Jennifer Austin - Wardrobe Stylist Larry Sims - Hair Stylist Takisha Sturdivant-Drew - Hair Stylist