US actor Adrien Brody will receive the prestigious Leopard Club Award when the Locarno Film Festival kicks off in Switzerland next month, organisers said Tuesday.

The 44-year-old, best known for his haunting role in the 2002 Oscar-winning Holocaust film "The Pianist", will receive the award on August 4 at the festival on the picturesque shores of Lake Maggiore.

The prize is awarded to actors "whose work has left a mark on the collective imagination" and has previously gone to stars including Faye Dunaway, Mia Farrow and Andy Garcia.

"Brody gained a lasting place in the collective imagination of the movie-going public when he played composer Wladyslaw Szpilman in The Pianist," directed by Roman Polanski, festival organisers said.

The actor, who won an Oscar for that role, "has since demonstrated his status as one of the most versatile of actors, appreciated by filmmakers in Hollywood and beyond," they added.

Brody started his film career in 1989 in the Francis Ford Coppola-directed segment of "New York Stories".

He has since worked with many of the world's top directors, including Steven Soderbergh, Oliver Stone, Ken Loach, Spike Lee, Wes Anderson, and Woody Allen.

The 70th edition of the Locarno Film Festival will run from August 2-12.