The Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce is set to honor screenwriter and producer, Ron Nyswaner, with the 470th star on the Palm Springs Walk of the Stars in the category of Entertainment. The ceremony will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 30th, 2024, at 1301 N. Palm Canyon Dr.
Invited guests scheduled to speak at the ceremony include Robbie Rogers, Executive Producer, and Jelani Alladin, star of Fellow Travelers. A private reception hosted by Eight4Nine Restaurant will be held immediately afterward.
“We are immensely excited to be a part of honoring Ron Nyswaner for his work in not only entertainment, but for his longtime activism for the LGBTQ+ community, with the 470th star on the Palm Springs Walk of the Stars,” said Palm Springs Chamber CEO, Nona Watson.
Nyswaner, an Academy Award-nominated writer and producer, is most notably known for the timeless film Philadelphia, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Nyswaner’s career has garnered nominations such as the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe, Independent Spirit Award, and received the National Board of Review’s Best Adapted Screenplay Award and GLAAD’s Best Screenplay Award, along with this year, the Walter Bernstein Award at the 76th Writers Guilds of America Awards.
His storytelling extends across various mediums, encompassing feature films, television series, and documentaries, including My Policeman, Murder on Middle Beach, Smithereens, Mrs. Soffel, Soldier’s Girl, The Painted Veil, and contributions to acclaimed series such as Ray Donovan and Homeland. He is the author of Blue Days Black Nights: A Memoir of Desire, and produced and directed the documentary feature, She’s the Best Thing in It, that premiered at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival.
Most recently, Nyswaner created and produced the Peabody Award-winning limited series Fellow Travelers, starring Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey, which was the best-reviewed limited series of the year. Based on the novel by Thomas Mallon, the love story and political thriller follows the volatile romance of two men who meet in 1950s Washington DC, just as Joseph McCarthy and Roy Cohn initiate the Lavender Scare, declaring war on “subversives and sexual deviants.” The series chronicles queer American history, tracing the lovers, their friends and family through the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s, the drug-fueled disco hedonism and the White Night Riots of the 1970s, and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. In addition to the recent Peabody Award, the series has been honored by GLAAD, IndieWire Wavelength and Critics Choice Association Celebration of LGBTQ+ Television and Cinema Awards. Fellow Travelers has also been nominated for the Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award for Limited Series and is currently streaming on Showtime and Paramount+.
Nyswaner’s work addresses contemporary social and political issues with an emphasis on the LGBTQ+ community and has been credited for bringing the challenging conversation surrounding HIV/AIDS to mainstream media. To honor his continued activism, Nyswaner has received a Steve Chase Humanitarian Award, the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Vanguard Award, and the Ryan White Youth Service Award, among others.