From left, Michael Stuhlbarg, Saiorse Ronan, Carey Mulligan and Emily Blunt recieve the Virtuoso Award on Sunday.
ROBBY BARTHELMESS / NEWS-PRESS
Carey Mulligan, above, Michael Stuhlbarg, above center, Emily Blunt, above right in grey, and Saiorse Ronan are shown on the red carpet on Sunday before receiving their Virtuoso Awards.
Young, talented and British: that could sum up a majority of this year’s Virtuoso Award honorees at Sunday night’s special event at the Lobero. Consider the list: Irish-raised Saoirse Ronan, who plays the young murder victim in Peter Jackson’s “The Lovely Bones.” London-born Emily Blunt, who plays the young queen in “The Young Victoria.” And Carey Mulligan, who went from Westminster to stardom as the seduced and seductive schoolgirl in “An Education.” Screams from a sparse but enthusiastic crowd gathered outside the Lobero and watching the red carpet greeted each star’s arrival.
Odd man out was Long Beach native Michael Stuhlbarg, who jumped from decades of Broadway theater work to unlikely leading man in the Coen Brothers’ “A Serious Man.” Mr. Stuhlbarg is more than twice the age of Miss Ronan, but to audiences, they are all fresh faces who delivered some of 2009’s best performances.