JULY 1 2007
AMERICANWAY 75
Celebrity duty used to come with a fairly specific
job description like doughnut maker or meat cutter.
Way back when, we saw our TV heroes on the tube
or gliding along the red carpet at Emmy time, but not
in many other places. These days, we’re liable to see
them behind a podium as they expose the merits of
globalwarming, discussAIDS inAfrica, orpeddleeco-
friendly cleaning products— all on E! Entertainment
Television.
Saving the world has become the latest celebrity
accessory. Youcan’t talkwithTedDansonandnothear
about Oceana, his nonprofit that protects the world’s
oceans, nor can you chat upCourteneyCox andhubby
David Arquette without learning the latest on Camp
Laurel, whichprovides support for children livingwith
HIV/AIDS.
Film stars leveraging fame to change the world is
hardlynew: JaneFondadid it (andstill feels theeffects
of it), as did Harry Belafonte, who certainly slowed
his career by exposing the inner workings of racism
in Hollywood casting and hiring. But television stars
are relatively new to this block, though certainly no
less forceful in trying towieldpower to create change,
even at a timewhen performers, in general, seem like
they’re more desperate than ever to draw attention
to themselves.
Peruse anyone’s bio, and you’re bound to find that
they’re doing something, or a number of somethings,
to effect change — as if they’re high school seniors
angling to impress aStanford admissions director.
Dana Davis, the young actress who played a teen-
ager on the ABC series
The Nine
, volunteers for the
Kids’ Church andAdopt-a-Block, aministry sponsored
by the Los Angeles Dream Center that helps families
make endsmeet.When not doing that, she’swithEm-
powering Lives International, whose weighty mission
is to end the cycle of poverty in places like Sudan and
parts of theCongo.
Most celebrity causes, though, center around the
more “popular” subjects of AIDS, breast cancer, and,
lately, the environment, with exceptions including
thoseof actors likeMichael J. Fox,who’sbeenworking
on getting stem-cell research on the political playing
field.
Joely Fisher of Fox’s
’Til Death
considers herself
“very, very, very passionate” about “making theworld
a better place.” And so, she’s the celebrity ambassa-
dor for the Dream Foundation, a national group that
grantswishes toadults battling terminal illnesses. The
daughter of actress Connie Stevens and singer Eddie
Fisher, Joely Fisher grew up on the road, sleeping in
orchestra pits during rehearsals.
“I’d already been around the world by the time I
was, oh, 13,” Fisher says. “Whenyou travel, you see the
worldasa smaller place.Whatever troubles you see in
other countries just seem somuch closer.”
Hayden Panettiere, the indestructible cheerleader
onNBC’s
Heroes
and the face of Neutrogena, may still
live at home, but she’s often off saving whales with
Pierce Brosnan through the Whaleman Foundation.
Whennot doing that, she’s anambassador, alongwith
Nelson Mandela, for a wildlife foundation helping to
raise funds to support and save endangered species.
It seems that Evangeline Lilly has been trying to
save our world long before
Lost
. Now the crafty Kate
in the ABC series, she was a volunteer for children’s
projects even at the young age of 14, while growing
up in Canada. By college, she’d established a world
development and human rights committee. “Believe it
or not, I spent a few years living in a grass hut in the
Philippine jungles,” Lilly says proudly.
Some celebs’ causes are a littlemore, shall we say,
creative. Greg Grunberg, the copwho readsminds on
Heroes
, auctions pieces of artwork that are finger-
painted by celebrities in order to benefit the Pediatric
Epilepsy Project at UCLA. He’s also in the Michael J.
Fox category, connectedpersonally tohis cause— the
eldest of his three sons was diagnosed with epilepsy.
Also in this category is veteran Holly Robinson Peete,
whose foundationHollyRod (foundedwith former pro
quarterback and husband Rodney Peete), which as-
sists those livingwithParkinson’s disease, was formed
after her father died of the disease in2002.
Friends
star Matthew Perry, seen this year on
NBC’s
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
, supports the Lili
Claire Foundation, which raises funds for those born
withWilliams syndromeandother neurogeneticdisor-
ders. Gary Sinise of
CSI: NewYork
, on CBS, is the na-
tional spokesman for theAmericanVeterans Disabled
for LifeMemorial, a tribute to soldiers suffering from
wounds sustainedwhilefightingwars.
Grunberg, who considers himself “philanthropic by
nature,” thinks actors are unfairly judged by critics
who believe they’re promoting a causewhile promot-
ing themselves and their projects.
JohnAmos agrees.
“Look, I’ve been there, done that. I don’t need a
cause to get my name out there,” says Amos, whose
Kidsail for Success charity takes inner-city youth out
on his yacht to teach them about sailing and life.
Amos,whoplayed thesterndadon
GoodTimes
and
the straight-shooting military general on
The West
Wing
and who is currently the cantankerous pilot on
Men inTrees
, dresses inapirategetupcompletewitha
parrot sitting atop his shoulder to greet campers.
“I do this because these kids need it,” he says. “If
there’s any selfishness involved, it’s the sheer joy I get
out of seeing their faces.”
Changing theWorld,
OneCauseat aTime
What TV stars are up towhen they’re not on TV.
ByKen Parish Perkins
