Paul Anka, David Foster, Andy Garcia, David Mamet, Barbara Mandrell Named Kennedy Center Honorees

President Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Board of Trustees named the lifetime achievement Honorees who will be recognized for the 49th Kennedy Center Honors: Paul Anka, David Foster, Andy Garcia, David Mamet and Barbara Mandrell. The Honorees will be celebrated on December 7 at a gala ceremony held for the first time at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

Since its founding in 1978, the Kennedy Center Honors has celebrated the lifetime contributions of some of the world’s most influential artists in music, dance, theater, opera, motion pictures and television. This year’s celebration will be hosted at Capital One Arena, a world-class, next-generation sports and entertainment destination and a fixture of downtown Washington, D.C. The Kennedy Center will transform the arena to capture the elegance and spirit that have defined the Honors ceremony for generations.

This year’s Honorees were chosen based on the recommendation of the Kennedy Center’s Special Honors Advisory Committee (SHAC), whose members include former Honorees, distinguished artists and members of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, under the leadership of Chairman President Donald J. Trump.

Paul Anka has been writing and recording hits for nearly seven decades. He became a star at 15 when “Diana” went to No. 1 in 1957, followed by hits including “Puppy Love” and, later, “(You’re) Having My Baby.” He went on to write “My Way” for Frank Sinatra and the theme for “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,” the longest-running theme in television history.

Anka toured with the Cavalcade of Stars alongside Buddy Holly, Frankie Lymon, and Chuck Berry and became the youngest entertainer to headline at the Copacabana. Knowing the power was in the pen, Anka wrote for Connie Francis, Lesley Gore, and Buddy Holly, including the last song Holly ever recorded, “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” and later wrote “She’s a Lady” for Tom Jones and “I’m Not Anyone” for Sammy Davis Jr. In the early 1960s, he became a junior associate of Sinatra and the Rat Pack and wrote the theme for the 1962 film “The Longest Day.”

Later highlights include “Hold Me ‘Til the Mornin’ Comes,” a 1983 duet with Peter Cetera; “Body of Work,” a 1998 duets album featuring Sinatra and Celine Dion; and “This Is It,” a posthumous 2009 hit he co-wrote with Michael Jackson. His 2005 album “Rock Swings” hit No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Jazz Albums chart. The holiday album “Songs of December” followed in 2011.

In 2013, he published his autobiography, “My Way,” a New York Times bestseller. That year, “Duets” made Anka the only artist with an album on the Billboard Top 100 in seven consecutive decades. In 2014, “Love Never Felt So Good,” another Jackson co-write, reached No. 1 in more than 50 countries. In 2018, “Don’t Matter to Me,” a collaboration with Jackson on Drake’s album “Scorpion,” reached the Billboard top 10.

Anka is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. His honors include the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s Johnny Mercer Award, BMI’s Icon Award and France’s National Order of Merit.

Anka appeared on “The Masked Singer” in 2020 and continues to write and record. His albums “Making Memories” (2021) and “Sessions” (2022) included a duet with Olivia Newton-John and a new “My Way” with Michael Bublé and Andrea Bocelli. His latest album, “Inspirations of Life and Love,” was released in 2026. The album arrives as Anka continues to captivate sold-out audiences worldwide, proving his music and legacy remain as powerful as ever.

David Foster is one of the most illustrious composers of our time. With 16 Grammy Awards, including three for Producer of the Year, an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe, and three Oscar nominations for best original song, Foster has earned a reputation as a keen spotter of new talent, playing a key role in the discovery and career launches of Celine Dion, Josh Groban and Michael Bublé.

Few other individuals can claim to have their fingerprints on more major moments in all of popular music than David Foster. He has created hit songs for a diverse array of artists including Barbra Streisand; Whitney Houston; Michael Jackson; Madonna; Andrea Bocelli; Chicago; Rod Stewart; Stevie Wonder; Earth, Wind & Fire; Toni Braxton; Natalie Cole; Michael Bolton; Seal; Chaka Khan; Kenny Rogers; Dolly Parton; Hall & Oates; Brandy; ‘N Sync; Boz Scaggs and Gloria Estefan.

In 2008 and 2011, Foster stepped out as a performer in his own right with the PBS specials “Hit Man: David Foster and Friends” and “Hit Man Returns,” which became PBS’ highest-rated shows in decades. In 2018, Foster started touring with his show ‘An Intimate Evening with David Foster.’ The shows garnered rave reviews and were so successful that he now devotes much of his time to selling out concerts around the world.

Foster recently wrote the music to the new musical about the iconic animated character “Betty Boop” which opened on Broadway in 2025 and is about to embark on a national US tour. In 2023 David released a Christmas album with Katharine McPhee, titled “Christmas Songs.”

Foster has made charitable work his life’s other priority. Meeting with a young girl from his hometown who was awaiting a liver transplant had a profound impact and led him to create The David Foster Foundation in 1986. Its mission is to provide financial support to Canadian families with children in need of life-saving organ transplants and provide awareness and education of the need to become a registered organ donor.

Andy Garcia has been honored for his work as an actor and director in film and television and as a music producer. His performance in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather: Part III” earned him Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor. He later received an Emmy nomination and his second Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of legendary Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval in HBO’s “For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story,” which he also executive produced.

In 2026, Garcia premiered his film “Diamond” at the Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim. He wrote, directed and stars in the film alongside Brendan Fraser, Vicky Krieps, Dustin Hoffman, Bill Murray, Danny Huston and Rosemarie Dewitt. He also wrote its original score with longtime collaborator Arturo Sandoval.

Garcia’s upcoming films include “The Prince” with J.K. Simmons and Giancarlo Esposito and “Maserati” opposite Anthony Hopkins. He was most recently seen in “Eenie Meanie” and “Pain Hustlers.”

His other film credits include Steven Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s Eleven,” “Ocean’s Twelve” and “Ocean’s Thirteen,” the “Book Club” films, “Father of the Bride,” which he also executive produced, “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again,” “The Mule,” “The Untouchables,” “Internal Affairs,” “Dead Again,” “Black Rain,” “When a Man Loves a Woman,” “Modigliani” and “City Island,” which he also produced. He also earned acclaim for his performance opposite Jeff Bridges in Hal Ashby’s “8 Million Ways to Die.”

On television, Garcia most recently appeared in Season 2 of Taylor Sheridan’s “Landman.” His other television credits include “Modern Love,” HBO’s “My Dinner with Hervé” and “Ballers.”

Through his production company, CineSon Productions, Garcia made his directorial debut with the documentary concert film “Cachao… Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos.” He also produced, directed, wrote the music for and starred in “The Lost City.” Under his CineSon label, Garcia has won Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards for producing and performing on albums by Israel “Cachao” López.

Garcia’s honors include a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Crystal Globe from the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and lifetime achievement awards from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors and the Imagen Foundation. This fall, he will receive the Stella della Mole Award at the Turin Film Festival, where “Diamond” will also screen.

For more than five decades, David Mamet has been one of the most distinctive voices in American theater and film. A Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright, screenwriter, director and author, he is known for his sharp, rhythmic dialogue that has captivated audiences on stage and screen.

Mamet’s plays include “Oleanna,” “American Buffalo,” “Speed-the-Plow,” “Boston Marriage,” “November,” “Race,” “The Anarchist” and “Glengarry Glen Ross,” winner of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for drama. He wrote the screenplays for “The Verdict,” “The Untouchables,” “Ronin,” “Hoffa,” “The Edge” and “Wag the Dog,” and he has twice been nominated for an Academy Award. He has written and directed a dozen films, including “Homicide,” “The Spanish Prisoner,” “State and Main,” “House of Games,” “Spartan,” “Redbelt,” “Henry Johnson” and the forthcoming film version of “Speed-the-Plow.”

He also wrote the novels “The Village,” “The Old Religion,” “Wilson,” “The Diary of a Porn Star,” “Some Recollections of St. Ives” and “Chicago,” and many books of nonfiction, including “Bambi vs. Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose and Practice of the Movie Business,” “Theatre,” “Three Uses of the Knife,” “Everywhere an Oink Oink: An Embittered, Dyspeptic and Accurate Report of Forty Years in Hollywood,” and two New York Times bestsellers, “The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture” and “Recessional: The Death of Free Speech and the Cost of a Free Lunch.”

His 2013 HBO film “Phil Spector,” starring Al Pacino and Helen Mirren, earned him two Emmy Award nominations, for writing and directing. He was co-creator and executive producer of the CBS series “The Unit,” is a founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company and is chief cartoonist of The Free Press.

Barbara Mandrell

Born to a musical family in Houston, Texas, Mandrell began playing the accordion and reading sheet music before she could read words. By age eleven, she was a prodigy on the steel guitar. Her performance at a music trade show caught the attention of legendary country guitarists Chet Atkins and ‘Uncle’ Joe Maphis. Soon after, Maphis invited Mandrell to join his show at the Showboat Hotel in Las Vegas. It became one of the single greatest influences on her musicianship, and by the time she was a teenager, Mandrell was touring with The Johnny Cash Show.

A short time later, Mandrell’s father, Irby Mandrell, formed the Mandrell Family Band, and the act embarked on a successful tour across Asia. The formation of the band also brought Mandrell together with her future husband Ken Dudney, after her dad hired him as the drummer.

Mandrell’s career took off in Nashville, and she scored her first hit with a remake of Otis Redding’s classic “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long.” A succession of No.1 hits followed, with songs such as “Sleeping Single in a Double Bed,” “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right” and “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool.” In 1980, the Country Music Association named Mandrell Entertainer of the Year. She earned that accolade again in 1981 and is one of the most awarded country acts in history. Mandrell and her sisters, Louise and Irlene, enjoyed a lauded television career that began in the 1980s with her NBC variety show, Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters.

In 1997, Mandrell officially retired with a final concert titled Barbara Mandrell and the Do-Rites: The Last Dance. It was filmed at the Grand Ole Opry for a highly-rated TNN concert special. Two years later, in 1999, Mandrell was inducted into the Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame. The next year, the Academy of Country Music honored Mandrell with its most prestigious award, The Pioneer Award. In 2009, Mandrell became the only woman ever to be inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame and was also inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2014, Mandrell was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame.

About The Kennedy Center

 President Trump announced a two-year closure of the center for renovations in February 2026. The following month, the board voted to shut down for two years, and Floca, previously the center’s facilities chief, took over leadership from Richard Grenell.

In May, a federal judge ordered Trump’s name removed from the building and blocked the planned closure. The center then directed staff to strip the name from documents and signage.

In September, leaders warned of bankruptcy, and the board voted to close the building immediately, citing safety concerns. A judge also blocked the center from inscribing Trump’s name on the building, and whistle-blowers later said the center had put off the repairs it cited for the closure. Earlier this month, it was announced that the Kennedy Center Honors will move to Capital One Arena for the 2026 ceremony.

The Reach, an annex on the center’s campus, remains open for limited programming. For more, see BroadwayWorld’s complete timeline of the Kennedy Center upheaval.