Local Actress Joined Golden Globes Nominees at GBK Lounge

Leslie Zemeckis on GBK Red Carpet

By Bonnie Carroll

The January 4th and 5th premiere GBK Productions Celebrity Gifting Lounge honoring the 2019 Golden Globe Awards attracted hundreds of celebrities, including Santa Barbara local Leslie Zemeckis, who has a long history writing and producing her own films as well as acting in the recently released Welcome to Marwen, by Robert Zemeckis.

Leslie has been on a whirlwind book tour around the country for the past six months promoting her new book “Feuding Fan Dancers” throughout the US, including a book signing at Chaucer’s Books in Santa Barbara. Her recent travels include international film premieres and red carpet media interviews for Welcome to Marwen.

Angela Basset enjoys GBK Red Carpet

Leslie Zemeckis has been an active supporter of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival over the years and is looking forward to participating in the 34th SBIFF from January 30 to February 9. She walked the red carpet with Roger Durling, Executive Director of the SBIFF, in Santa Barbara in 2017 when her film Mabel, Mabel, Tiger Trainer was among the films being presented.

The GBK Luxury Lounge at Viceroy L’ Ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills became a hub for this year’s nominees and presenters who all enjoyed meeting the press, live entertainment, unique food & beverages and some of the hottest must-have items to take home.

Viola Davis at the GBK Lounge

Celebrities attending included Viola Davis, Angela Bassett, Danny Huston, Anthony Anderson, director Joe Russo, and Nominee Spike Lee, director BlakkKlansman. There was a reunion of the breakout cast of the hit Netflix film Dumplin’ with stars Danielle Macdonald, Luke Benward and Odeya Rush all stopping by. Linda Cardellini, Mike Hatton and Dimiter Marinov of the 5 time Golden Globe nominated film Green Book was there, as well as the stars of other nominated shows and films including Indya Moore & Angel Curiel, nominated series Pose, Cole Allen, Juliet Morris & Bernard White, nominated series Kidding, Keidrich Sellati, nominated series The Americans, Darrell Britt-Gibson, nominated series Barry, Matilda Szydagis, nominated series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Michael Beasley, nominated series Escape at Dannemora, David S. Lee, nominated film Black Panther, Coleman Domingo, nominated film If Beale Street Could Talk and more.

Also enjoying the fun were Leslie Zemeckis, Welcome to Marwen, Dania Ramirez, Shameless stars Scott Michael Campbell & Shanola Hampton, Keith David, 4x NBA Champion John Salley, Sarayu Blue, London Brown, Jeremy Maguire, Felix Solis, James Maslow, Ser’Darius Blaine, Carl McDowell, Donovan Carter, Taylor Cole, Michelle La, Chandler Kinney, Benjamin Hollingsworth, Arturo Del Puerto, Bobby Rodriguez, Caleb Foote and more.

Celebrities enjoyed an assortment of glitzy gifts and cocktails, wine and specialty food bites while perusing the festive hotel gifting suite and chatting with friends. GBK Productions charity partners for this year’s event included the Stan Lee Foundation and Peace 4 Animals who were on-site to talk to the talent and press about their organizations. California Live, on NBC, partnered with GBK this year to gift Woolsey Firefighter Kristina Dee Kepner a Golden Globes experience for her dedication fighting the fires in California for 6 days straight. The California Live segment aired on NBC Monday, January 7th.

GBK Productions, is a luxury lifestyle gifting and special events company, specializing in entertainment marketing integration. Formed in 2000 by Gavin Keilly, the company’s Founder and CEO, GBK consists of five divisions: GBK Celebrity Gifting, GBK Special Events, GBK Weddings, GBK Charitable Consulting, and GBK Marketing & Public Relations. Widely known in the entertainment industry for bringing that little extra something into the Luxury Lounge environment. For information on Gavin B. Keilly (CEO) or GBK please go to http://www.gbkproductions.com.