The Actors Fund, the national human services organization for everyone in performing arts and entertainment, raised $1.1 million at its first-ever Virtual Gala on Monday, November 2, 2020. The evening celebrated The Actors Fund and the 35th anniversary of Career Transition For Dancers, a program of The Fund, while also presenting The Fund’s Medal of Honor to Tony Award-winning actor Matthew Broderick and Emmy Award-winning actor, producer, and business owner Sarah Jessica Parker (presented by three-time Tony Award-winning actor Nathan Lane); founding member and Artistic Director of Dance Theatre of Harlem Virginia Johnson (presented by Director of the Juilliard Dance Division Alicia Graf Mack); Tony Award-winning actor and Chairman of The Actors Fund Brian Stokes Mitchell (presented byActors Fund Board Vice Chair, and Oscar, Emmy and Tony Award-nominated actress Annette Bening);Academy Award-winning producer, co-owner of the New York Football Giants and philanthropist Steve Tisch (presented by Actors Fund President & CEO Joseph P. Benincasa); and American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) President Richard L. Trumka (presented by Actors Fund Board Member and President of the International Alliance Of Theatrical Stage Employees Matthew D. Loeb).
In addition to the evening’s honorees and presenters, the virtual fundraiser included online appearances by Jelani Alladin, Lynn Ahrens, Kate Baldwin, Andréa Burns, Danny Burstein, Caitlin Carter, Chuck Cooper, André De Shields, Brandon Victor Dixon, Stephen Flaherty, Mandy Gonzalez, Joshua Henry, James Monroe Iglehart, John Kander, Hailey Kilgore, LaChanze, Norm Lewis, Michael McElroy, Ruthie Ann Miles, Billy Porter, Desmond Richardson, Chita Rivera, Lea Salonga, Stephen Schwartz, Stephen Sondheim, Jonathan Tisch, Marisa Tomei, Courtney B. Vance and Nia Vardalos with special video performances by the Dance Theatre of Harlem and Broadway Inspirational Voices.
