Screen Actors Guild Foundation Announces Its “SAG Foundation 30th Anniversary Celebration” Awards And Showcase On Thursday, November 5th In Los Angeles – Leonardo DiCaprio To Be Honored With 30th Anniversary “Actors Inspiration Award”
September 24, 2015
Announcements of Additional Honorees, Performers & Presenters Forthcoming
LOS ANGELES (September 24, 2015) — The Screen Actors Guild Foundation, founded in 1985 to assist, educate and inspire SAG-AFTRA professionals, will commemorate its milestone year with the “SAG Foundation 30th Anniversary Celebration” on Thursday, November 5th at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. The event will include a musical showcase of celebrity performances with ticket sales benefitting the SAG Foundation.
Leonardo DiCaprio will receive the nonprofit Foundation’s single “Actors Inspiration Award” highlighting his career achievements as a five-time Oscar®-nominee and eight-time Screen Actors Guild Award nominee who has earned acclaim for his roles in The Wolf of Wall Street, Blood Diamond, The Aviator, The Great Gatsby, Inception, Shutter Island, Django Unchained, Revolutionary Road, J. Edgar and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. The award also recognizes his philanthropic work as Chairman of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (LDF) whose mission, since 1998, is to protect biodiversity, conserve the world’s oceans and forests, and bring attention to climate change. In collaboration with a broad network of environmental leaders, organizations and philanthropists, LDF has awarded over $30 million dollars in grants and supported over 70 high-impact projects in more than 40 countries around the world.
“This year marks an exciting time for the SAG Foundation as we celebrate 30 years of giving back to SAG-AFTRA members and the entertainment industry, as well as an international audience of children, parents, and teachers,” said SAG Foundation President JoBeth Williams.
“To commemorate our landmark anniversary, we’re excited to honor Leonardo DiCaprio’s outstanding achievements with our Actors Inspiration Award. With beloved and acclaimed films as diverse as Titantic to The Wolf of Wall Street to his latest film The Revenant, Leonardo’s career is a gold standard example to his craft. Also, his work with LDF demonstrates his commitment to conservation and protection of our environment.”
Said DiCaprio, “It is an honor to be recognized by the SAG Foundation, a group which does so much to support, sustain, and educate my fellow actors and give back to the entertainment industry, as well as the work it has done to advance children’s literacy. As the SAG Foundation moves into its next 30 years, I’m proud to be a continuing supporter and contributor to its legacy and its future.”
Additional honorees, presenters, and performers for the SAG Foundation 30th Anniversary Celebration will be announced in the next several weeks. Sponsors include United Airlines, Variety, and Taittinger Champagne. To purchase tickets and for more information, please visit SAGFoundation.org/30Years.
In 2015, the Screen Actors Guild Foundation celebrates 30 years of giving back to the professionals of SAG-AFTRA, their families and communities. The nonprofit provides vital assistance and educational programming to the professionals of SAG-AFTRA while serving the public at large through its signature children’s literacy programs. For 30 years, the Foundation has granted more than $17 million in financial and medical assistance through its Catastrophic Health Fund and Emergency Assistance Programs, and $6.5 million in scholarships to SAG-AFTRA members and their dependents. In addition, the nonprofit has offered 5000 free educational workshops, panels and screenings to union performers nationwide and its children’s literacy programs have brought the love of reading to more than 66 million children worldwide.
About Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio is an award-winning actor and a three-time Academy Award® nominee, starring in movies such as the The Wolf of Wall Street, The Great Gatsby, Inception, Blood Diamond and the Oscar®-winning Best Picture, The Departed. In addition to his acting work, DiCaprio created his own production company, Appian Way. Under the Appian Way banner, he produced and narrated the acclaimed environmentally themed documentary The 11th Hour.
DiCaprio is also a leading environment activist, and serves as Chairman of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (“LDF”). He was recently designated as the United Nations Messenger of Peace for Climate Change and received the 2014 Clinton Global Citizen Award for his work to protect the environment and endangered species. In addition to founding LDF in 1998, DiCaprio also serves on the board of several environmental organizations, including: World Wildlife Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Geographic’s Pristine Seas, the funders’ collaborative Oceans 5, and International Fund for Animal Welfare.
About the Screen Actors Guild Foundation
The Screen Actors Guild Foundation envisions a world where all artists can realize their dreams, and children are empowered to create their own. Founded in 1985, the SAG Foundation is an educational, humanitarian and philanthropic 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, independent from SAG-AFTRA, and relies solely on support from grants, corporate sponsorships, and individual contributions to maintain its programs. For more information, visit sagfoundation.org. Follow SAG Foundation on Twitter (twitter.com/sagfoundation), Facebook (facebook.com/sagfoundation), YouTube (youtube.com/sagfoundation) and Instagram (instagram.com/sagfoundation).
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Media Contacts
42West SAG Foundation
Annalee Paulo Caroline O’Connor, Dir. of Communications
(310) 477-4442 (213) 400-8401
Annalee.Paulo@42West.net coconnor@sagfoundation.org
