The actor, who shares a home in Primrose Hill with wife Rachel Weisz, will receive the Dilys Powell Award at the UK film critics’ 45th annual ceremony on February 2.
The Excellence in Film award is the top honour handed out by the country’s leading film critics, with past recipients including Richard Attenborough, Michael Caine, Judi Dench, Kate Winslet and fellow north Londoner Helena Bonham Carter.
Speaking ahead of the Awards ceremony at The May Fair Hotel, Rich Cline, chair of the 210-member Critics Circle film section said: “As critics, we were already fans of Daniel Craig for the adventurous roles he took on even before he became James Bond.
“We honoured him for his roles in The Mother (2003) and Enduring Love (2004), and then of course we also enjoyed his superb take on 007. Over the decades, he has consistently made bold choices and pushed against the boundaries that often limit other top stars.
“We love the Knives Out movies, and have nominated him this year for Queer. We are looking forward to celebrating his career at our ceremony.”
Before starring as 007 in five Bond films, Craig received critical acclaim for performances in films such as John Maybury’s Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon and Sam Mendes’ 2002 movie Road to Perdition.
He starred in Layer Cake in 2004, then Steven Spielberg’s Munich in 2005 the year before taking on the iconic role as James Bond in Casino Royale.
His run as Bond culminating with No Time to Die in 2021. In recent years, Craig starred as detective Benoit Blanc in the hit Knives Out (2019), reprising the role in Glass Onion and the forthcoming Wake Up Dead Man.
The awards are given by the 210-member Film Section of the Critics’ Circle, with Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist and Sean Baker’s Anora leading the nominees this year.
Established in 1913, the Critics’ Circle is the oldest organisation of its kind in the world, with more than 450 members who work in the UK as critics of art and architecture, books, dance, drama, film, and music.
