Look To The Stars News: America Ferrera

Lance Armstrong Stands Up To Cancer Tonight

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:30:00 -0000

Don’t miss Stand Up To Cancer on ABC, CBS and NBC today, Friday, September 5, at 8 p.m. (EST).

A spectacular line up of talent including Jennifer Aniston, James Taylor, Scarlett Johansson, Meryl Streep, David Cook, Christina Applegate, Lance Armstrong, Jack Black, Kirsten Dunst, Charles Barkley, America Ferrera, Halle Berry, Hilary Swank, Forest Whitaker, Jimmy Fallon and Keanu Reeves will appear on the one-hour telecast. The celebrities are set to educate you, move you and entertain you, and will even be on hand to answer your calls in the celebrity phone bank.

The premiere TV performance of Just Stand Up – the star studded charitable single in support of Stand Up To Cancer – will be performed by legendary recording artists Mariah Carey, Beyoncé Knowles, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Fergie, Sheryl Crow, Miley Ray Cyrus, Melissa Etheridge, Ashanti, Natasha Bedingfield, Keyshia Cole, Ciara, Leona Lewis, LeAnn Rimes, and Carrie Underwood.

Doug Ulman, President of the Lance Armstrong Foundation says, “Inspired to act by their own personal experiences with cancer, the Stand Up to Cancer team recognizes that we can no longer rely on the current system alone to give us the breakthroughs we need. They are calling on the public to help take matters into our own hands, investing in a revolution that will change the way scientists and clinicians work to understand and treat cancer. Stand Up To Cancer is more than a rallying cry. It is a galvanizing force created to urgently move cancer research forward.”

Tonight’s program is raising funds to build “Dream Teams” made up of scientists, clinicians, technicians and other experts.

For more information about Stand Up To Cancer, and a complete list of celebrities who will be appearing during the show, visit the Stand Up To Cancer Website.

Handbag.com Launches Handbag Amnesty

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:30:00 -0000

www.handbag.com and Cancer Research UK have announced a new partnership with the launch of the first ever Handbag Amnesty.

Taking place throughout the month of September – www.handbag.com’s dedicated handbag month – and climaxing in October, the Handbag Amnesty will give women across the country the opportunity to bid for the designer handbag of their favourite celebrity including, just to name a few, Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller and Dame Shirley Bassey, to raise money to help beat cancer.

www.handbag.com and Cancer Research UK are asking celebrities to make space in their wardrobes by donating one of their designer handbags to the Amnesty. The bags will then be auctioned on eBay from Friday 3rd – Sunday 14th October to tie in with Breast Cancer Awareness month. Open to everyone, all proceeds will go to Cancer Research UK, the largest single funder of research into breast cancer, one of the most common cancers in the UK.

Some of the other celebrities who have donated handbags are America Ferrera, Annie Lennox, Ashlee Simpson, Geri Halliwell, Dame Judi Dench, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Scarlett Johansson.

The Handbag Amnesty, however, is not just about celebrities. www.handbag.com and Cancer Research UK are also asking members of the public to donate a handbag that is still in good condition to their local Cancer Research UK shop. Good handbags always sell like hot cakes in Cancer Research UK’s nationwide chain of charity shops.

Claire Higgins, Head of Marketing at www.handbag.com, says: “As the leading lifestyle website for women in the UK, we are in the unique position of being able to reach more than 1.5 million women across the country. 44,000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed every year in the UK so we are very proud to be working with Cancer Research UK to help make a difference – not only by raising a lot of money to fund research into preventing breast cancer, but also by helping to raise much needed awareness of the illness.”

Paul Farthing, Director of High Value Relationships at Cancer Research UK, says: “We’re delighted to be working with www.handbag.com to launch Handbag Amnesty. The auction of celebrity handbags will be an exciting way to raise funds for our vital research into breast cancer. We also hope that by encouraging supporters to donate their own favourite handbag, and other unwanted quality items to our shops, we will be able to raise even more to help beat cancer.”

For more information and a full list of celebrities taking part, please visit www.handbag.com/amnesty

Stars Prove They Are Hot In Hollywood

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

America Ferrera, Katherine Heigl, Neil Patrick Harris, and Jaime Pressly were among the celebs who helped raise almost $300,000 to fight HIV/AIDS at the Hot in Hollywood benefit gala held at The Avalon in Hollywood last weekend.

Hot In Hollywood is a celebration benefiting charities dedicated to the education, prevention, testing and treatment of HIV/AIDS. In just three years, this celebrity fundraiser has become one of the hottest events in Los Angeles and this year featured live musical performances, DJs, and an exciting auction – in which Katherine Heigl paid $8,000 for a package trip to Jamaica.

“I had so much fun hosting Hot In Hollywood III,” said Ferrara. “It is such a great space to make a fool out of myself! It was professional chaos!”

The evening raised money for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and the Real Medicine Foundation, and creator of the event Michael Medico said: “I am once again stunned by the generosity of our participating talent! Each year we keep getting better and better and raising more money for our beneficiaries. I am forever grateful.”

Jaime Pressly, who has hosted the show for the last two years, was honored with an award for her dedication to the fight for HIV/AIDS awareness. She also shared her personal story of her uncle’s tragic death from the disease.

Other stars to attend the event included Ana Ortiz and Jason Biggs.

Shakira Wins Humanitarian Award

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Colombian pop star Shakira proved hips don’t lie when she received an ALMA award on Sunday for the humanitarian work she has been doing for Latin America’s impoverished children.

The American Latino Media Arts awards – hosted by Eva Longoria – celebrated the achievements of Latin American performers, with accolades going to America Ferrera, Linda Ronstadt, and Charlie Sheen.

Shakira, who is a UNICEF Ambassador and recently took part in concerts to bring a stop to civil unrest in Colombia, received the award for her work to improve the lives of children in Colombia and Latin America.

“I feel unworthy to accept this award because we have only scratched the surface,” said the singer. “There is still so much to be done.”

Shakira founded Pies Descalzos – a Colombian charity that runs special schools for poor children – in 1997. She has taken part in a multitude of benefit concerts and has visited many people affected by natural disasters, including the victims of Hurricane Sidr in Bangladesh. It was revealed at the 2007 Clinton Global Initiative that she had donated a massive $40 million to help the victims of natural disasters around the world. Earlier this year she acted as Chairperson for the Global Campaign for Education’s Action Week to generate awareness about the Education for All Act, during which she spoke with a number of world leaders to promote a move towards Global Education.

Stars Record Nelson Mandela's Favorite Stories

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:30:00 -0000

In honor of Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday this week, Artists for a New South Africa (ANSA) announced plans to produce an audiobook version of Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales, an award-winning book of legendary tales hand-picked by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

An array of celebrated performers are donating their talents to the charitable endeavor; those already signed on to voice stories include Gillian Anderson, America Ferrera, Whoopi Goldberg, Samuel L. Jackson, Alan Rickman, and Jurnee Smollett. Nobel laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu will record a special message to the world’s children that will be featured on the audiobook.

Emmy/Golden Globe winner/Oscar nominee Alfre Woodard, who co-founded ANSA in 1989, will serve as Creative Director of the audiobook. She said, “I was privileged to be with Nelson Mandela recently in London, where he challenged us, saying, ‘…our work is far from complete. Where there is poverty and sickness, including AIDS, where human beings are oppressed, there is more work to be done…after nearly 90 years of life, it is time for new hands to lift the burdens. It is in your hands now.’ With this audiobook, ANSA pays tribute to our friend and our hero, Nelson Mandela, on his 90th birthday. It will take the hands of all mankind to lift that burden and carry on the work. We hope you will join in and support this effort.”

Proceeds from the audiobook – slated for a Summer 2009 release – will benefit the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund (NMCF), a South African organization founded in 1995 to improve the way society treats its children; and ANSA, which works in the U.S. and South Africa to combat HIV/AIDS, provide comprehensive assistance to children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, advance human rights, educate and empower at-risk youth and build bonds between both nations through arts, culture and the shared pursuit of social justice. Both organizations are working to address the impact of the AIDS pandemic on children in South Africa, which has more people living with HIV/AIDS and more children orphaned by the disease than any other country.

“We’re deeply grateful to our generous partners and to the gifted artists who are helping bring these remarkable stories to life,” said ANSA’s Executive Director Sharon Gelman. “Our goal is to create an audiobook that can be enjoyed by people around the world, increasing awareness of Africa’s rich cultural heritages and creating a better future for South Africa’s most vulnerable children.”

In his original foreword for the folktale collection, Nelson Mandela wrote, “It is my wish that the voice of the storyteller may never die in Africa, that all the children of the world may experience the wonder of books.” With the forthcoming audiobook edition of Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales, his vision comes full circle, as the timeless tales he selected return to the great oral tradition that allowed them to be passed down for centuries, and will now enlighten and entertain children of all ages the world over

Celebrity Fashion Up For Grabs

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Anybody interested in celebrity fashion should head over to www.clothesoffourback.org in the next few days to bid on some of the fabulous items up for grabs in the name of charity.

The Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance has an exciting range of clothes and memorabilia up for auction on the site, including the Badgley Mischka dress that Comedy For A Cure honoree Teri Hatcher wore to the American Idol" Season 7 Grand Finale, a green Max Mara wrap dress, smoky quartz & sterling silver earrings, and autographed photo from “Dexter” star "Julie Benz, a “Chuck” t-shirt autographed by the show’s star Zachary Levi, a “CSI:NY” white lab coat autographed by Melina Kanakaredes, and the Theory dress that “Access Hollywood” correspondent Shaun Robinson wore to last year’s Comedy for a Cure event when she was the show’s emcee.

Bidders should be quick, as the auction ends on July 8.

And for anybody who wants to step out on the town in some special shoes, Clothes Off Our Back is also auctioning off a range off footwear designed specially by stars such as Sheryl Crow, Hilary Swank, Zooey Deschanel, Rose McGowan, Kate Winslet, Maggie Grace, Cate Blanchett, Kirsten Dunst, Kristin Davis, Natasha Henstridge, Lisa Edelstein, Pink, Becki Newton, Melissa George, Kerry Washington, America Ferrera, Ana Ortiz, and Kate Walsh.

Proceeds from the auction will go Second Harvest (the nation’s largest charitable hunger-relief organization), The Art of Elysium (which enriches the lives of artist and critically ill children), World Education (focusing on girls’ scholarship programs in Africa), and autism research. The auction ends on July 11.

Over 500 celebrities have participated in Clothes Off Our Back auctions since it was established by Jane Kaczmarek and Bradley Whitford in 2002, helping raise over $2 million for various children’s charities.

Latino Stars Gather For Independent Producers Conference

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:56:47 -0000

Written by Crystal A. Johnson

On Friday March 7, 2008, the ninth annual National Association of Latino Independent Producers Conference took place at Dana Point, California. Producers, directors, and celebrities attended to show their support for the event. NALIP’s major sponsor for the event was HBO, which provided many of its industry executives to share their wisdom with NALIP’s members and conference attendees. Various films were shown throughout the weekend, including La Misma Luna, soon to be released nationally. The story centers round a young Mexican boy who crosses the Mexican/US border to reunite with his mother after his grandmother passes. Ugly Betty’s America Ferrera can be seen briefly in the film. Smaller scale but critically acclaimed films were also shown during the course of the weekend.

Workshops for aspiring actors, writers, and producers were also held, and the event was well received by those who attended. People waited anxiously after each seminar to speak to producers from Pan’s Labyrinth, actress Yareli Arizmendi, Illegal Tender director Franc. Reyes, and many more. NALIP’s mission is to promote the advancement, development, and funding of Latino/Latina film and media arts in all genres.

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