Over 400 alumni, donors and supporters gathered at Cipriani 42nd Street on Monday night for the NYU Tisch School of the Arts 2017 gala, Aspire and Inspire, honoring notable alumni Danai Gurira and André Holland.
The evening was hosted by Sunday in the Park with George’s Michael McElroy, Associate Arts Professor and Associate Chairperson at NYU Tisch and the event featured several performances by current Tisch students in tribute to Gurira and Holland.
Holland is one of the hottest actors in Hollywood. His most recent film Moonlight won best picture this year at the Oscars.
What does this honor mean to you today?
Andre Holland: It means a great deal. I mean, you know, I really admire the group of people who’ve come through Tisch, and so to be honored by them, it means a lot to me. It means that I’m doing something right, I guess.
Definitely. You’re reuniting with Ava DuVernay again for Wrinkle in Time. That just wrapped. What was that experience like?
Andre Holland: It was wonderful. I think she’s one of the most special directors out there, and her energy, and everything about her. She’s just an incredible woman, so I’m grateful to call her a friend and a collaborator.
I haven’t seen you since Moonlight’s best picture win. Can you reflect on the film taking it home?
Andre Holland: It still hasn’t quite hit me to be honest. We made the film for so little money and in such little time that none of us anticipated anything like that would happen. It just was incredible. The whole run of it was incredible.
I also wanted to ask you about collaborating with Steve McQueen on his latest film Widows. This cast consists of Viola Davis, Daniel Kaluuya, Michelle Rodriguez and Liam Neeson to name a few. This cast is fantastic. Are you excited?
Andre Holland: Yeah, very excited. It’s going to be a really good cast. Several of my scenes are with Viola Davis, so she’s been a hero of mine for a long time, so I’m looking forward to getting to work with her.
Lastly, you had a great run on American Horror Story. Was it fun for you to mix up the genres?
Yeah, we had a good time. It was very different from anything I’d ever done, and it’s a great group of people working on that show, so we had a fun summer.
Do you hope to reunite with Mr. Ryan Murphy again?
Yeah, if the timing is right and there’s something for me to do, then I’d love to.
Photo Credit: Nate “Igor” Smith
