Edward James Olmos to be honored for lifetime achievement at 2017 Platino Awards
MADRID (KABC) -- Legendary actor Edward James Olmos has been honored with a slew of awards in his decadeslong career, but the lifetime achievement award he is set to receive Saturday night at the 2017 Platino Awards is "probably one of the highest honors I've ever received because it's coming from my culture," he said.
In an interview with ABC7 in Madrid, Spain, where the fourth annual ceremony will be held at the Caja Magica stadium, the L.A. native said the award is "not only from my immediate culture but by all the Spanish-speaking world (which) has said to me, in this moment in time, 'Thank you for the work that you've done in making our art form available and understood throughout the world.'"
Olmos, who is of Mexican descent and first gained fame as Lt. Martin Castillo in the 1980s hit series "Miami Vice," said he was "very stunned" and "moved" when he learned he would be receiving the lifetime achievement award. The Platino Awards are known as the Ibero-American equivalent of the Oscars.
"You've got to remember - I've never done a film in Spanish," Olmos noted. "I've done parts that require me to speak in Spanish, but I've never done a film in Spain or other parts of the world where" audiences are predominantly Spanish-speaking.
The actor and social activist is also widely known for his starring role in the film "Stand and Deliver," for which he was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe.
"What they're giving me this award for is for 20 years of bringing the Latino International Film Festival - the largest Latino film festival in the world - to Los Angeles and the world," Olmos said of the Platino statuette.
When asked what his greatest achievement has been, however, Olmos answered: "It's been the evolvement of my family and watching my children grow and my grandchildren - now I have five grandchildren - watching how my whole life has grown in that manner.
"Family's the most important part of your life, period."
