Actor Ed Asner among guest panelists at 2016 Garden State Film Festival.

Actor Ed Asner will be among the celebrity guests at the Garden State Film Festival in Atlantic City, which runs from Mar. 31 through Apr. 3.

Asner, is not only known best for his gruff but lovable characters like Lou Grant on the hit television series, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Carl Fredericksen from the animated film, Up, but also for his sometimes controversial political activism.He’ll join Joseph Russo, Jr. (Jersey Boys, Jersey Shore Shark Attack), Al Sapienza (House of Cards, The Sopranos), Chance Kelly (Aquarius), Sally Struthers (All In The Family) and others during the four-day event.

This year’s festival features 214 films from 17 countries, plus the annual award ceremony, cocktail party, open casting call and screenplay reading.Activism and Hollywood is one of the two panel discussions planned for the festival, led by documentary film director Yoruba Richen (The New Black, Promised Land) and model Omar Sharif, Jr. (grandson of the late actor, Omar Sharif), both LGBT activists.Mark Shapiro from the LAIKA animation studio (ParaNorman,The Boxtrolls) will present a workshop on stop motion animation. The full film screening schedule and venue locations can be found here.A $45 weekend pass gets you in to all screenings at each venue, as well as the Friday Night Gala Cocktail Party, panel discussions, screenplay reading and all after parties.  Day passes for Saturday ($30) and Sunday ($20) are also available, as are separate tickets for individual screenings.Thursday, Mar. 31 through Sunday, Apr. 3, various times and locations – Atlantic City, NJ.