Actors Fund Honors Bening, McCollum & Tisch 4/12; Jackson Hosts Ceremony

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, On Monday, April 12, The Actor's Fund will host their annul gala at the Marriott Marquis. The gala will honor three stars of stage, screen and business: three-time Academy Award nominee Annette Bening ("Being Julia," "American Beauty," "The Grifters"), four-time Tony Award-winning producer Kevin McCollum ("Rent," "Avenue Q," "In the Heights," "Private Lives"), and Chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels Jonathan Tisch.

The evening is a culmination of Bening, McCollum and Tisch's year-long fundraising leadership as co-chairs of The Actors Fund's special campaign, which has already raised nearly $10 million. The trio will receive The Fund's highest award, the "Medal of Honor." The "festive attire" event begins with 6 pm cocktails and dinner and entertainment at 7 pm.

Slated to perform is multi-platinum selling, five-time Grammy Award nominated entertainer Michael Feinstein, dubbed of "The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook" - and considered one of the premiere interpreters of American Popular Song. Cheyenne Jackson, star of Broadway's Finian's Rainbow and Xanadu, will be featured as the evening's master of ceremonies. Also scheduled to appear are stage and screen stars Jane Krakowski, Peter Gallagher, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Bebe Neuwirth, in addition to other surprise guests. Attendees include Warren Beatty, Lucy Liu, Alfred Molina, Jane Powell and more.

For tickets to the April 12 gala evening, call the benefit office at 212-763-8597 or email AFAGala@cmevents.net. For more information and updates, please visit www.actorsfund.org.

The Actors Fund is the national human service organization helping all professionals in theatre, television, film, music, opera and dance. With offices in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, The Fund directly serves more than 11,000 entertainment and performing arts professionals in need across the country, and approximately 1 million more through Web resource programs.

The Fund's programs are wide in scope, responsive in nature, and produce significant results in the lives of those who enrich our national landscape with creativity, talent and vision.

Learn more about The Actors Fund at www.actorsfund.org.

Actors Fund Medal of Honor Recipient Bios

Annette Bening was most recently seen on the big screen in writer-director Diane English's remake of "The Women", starring alongside Meg Ryan, Eva Mendes and Jada Pinkett-Smith. Prior to that, She starred in the 2006 film "Running with Scissors" for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. She will next be seen in Sony Pictures Classics' "Mother and Child" for writer-director Rodrigo Garcia. The film also stars Naomi Watts. This July, she will also be seen in Focus Features' "The Kids Are All Right," in which she plays opposite Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo.

Annette was ‘Julia Lambert' in "Being Julia" for Sony Pictures Classics, the role that earned the actress her third Oscar nomination. For that performance, she was also named the National Board of Review's "Best Actress," won the Golden Globe award for "Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy," and received a SAG nomination for "Best Actress." She also starred in "Mrs. Harris" with Ben Kingsley for HBO, earning an Emmy, SAG, and Golden Globe nomination.

An award-winning stage actress, Bening has spent much of her time in front of the movie camera. She starred in the critically acclaimed film "American Beauty," for which she received both an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe nomination for "Best Actress/Drama". Her performance in the film earned her a Screen Actors Guild Award and the BAFTA (British Academy) Award. Her other film credits include Neil Jordan's "In Dreams," and "The Siege," opposite Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis.

Bening was honored at the Boston, Palm Springs and Chicago Film Festivals with Lifetime Achievement Awards, as well as receiving the Donostia Prize at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. She won the "Actress of the Year" award at the Hollywood Film Festival, and received the Montecito Award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

She received her first Academy Award nomination and was named "Best Supporting Actress" by the National Board of Review for her role in "The Grifters." She also received a Golden Globe nomination for "Best Actress/Musical or Comedy" for her starring role in Rob Reiner's "The American President," opposite Michael Douglas. Bening also had supporting roles in Tim Burton's "Mars Attacks!", and in Sir Ian McKellen's film adaptation of Shakespeare's "Richard III."

Her other film credits include: "Love Affair" with Warren Beatty; Barry Levinson's "Bugsy," also opposite Beatty, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for "Best Actress"; "Regarding Henry" with Harrison Ford and directed by Mike Nichols; "Guilty By Suspicion," opposite Robert DeNiro; Milos Forman's "Valmont"; and "Postcard From The Edge." Bening made her feature film debut in the comedy "The Great Outdoors," with Dan Aykroyd and the late John Candy.

Bening's theater credits include the Anton Chekhov play "The Cherry Orchard" at Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum in 2006, and Alan Bennett's "Talking Heads," at the Tiffany Theater in Los Angeles. She also played the title role in Henrik Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler" in March 1999 at Los Angeles' Geffen Playhouse. She was recently seen on stage in "Medea" at UCLA, and in "The Female of the Species," also at the Geffen Playhouse.

Born in Topeka, Kansas and raised in San Diego, Bening was enrolled at a local college when she got a job as a dancer in a pre-show presented outside of San Diego's famed Old Globe Theater. This led to a walk-on in a Shakespearean production and two plays with the San Diego Repertory Theater.

Bening graduated from San Francisco State University and was accepted by the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, where she trained until she joined The Acting Company. She also appeared in both summer Shakespearean festivals and regional productions until her career took her to New York. There, Bening received both a Tony Award nomination and won the Clarence Derwent Award for most outstanding debut performance of the season for her role in "Coastal Disturbances," originally at the Second Stage, then on Broadway.

"Whether you're watching a live performance, viewing a film, imagining the creative process and the crew behind the scenes or simply enjoying the magical results of our work, you can make an impact on the lives of those who have dedicated their careers to the arts. The challenges many of these individuals face are, at times, overwhelming. Through our support of The Actors Fund, we can insure that they have a better chance of withstanding troubled times." - Annette Bening

Kevin McCollum, a trustee of The Actors Fund, won Tony Awards for Best Musical for "In The Heights" (2008), "Avenue Q" (2004) and "Rent" (1996), which also won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was made into a major motion picture. Mr. McCollum also produced "The Drowsy Chaperone" (2006), winner of five Tony Awards; Baz Luhrmann's Broadway production of Puccini's "La Boheme" (2002), which won two Tony Awards; "High Fidelity" (2006); [title of show] (2008); the touring and Broadway productions of "Irving Berlin's White Christmas"; the Off-Broadway hit "De La Guarda"; the recent revival of "Ragtime" (2009) and the current revival of "West Side Story" (2009). Mr. McCollum received his undergraduate training at the Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and a master's degree from the Peter Stark Program at the University of Southern California.

"We have an opportunity to help those who truly are in need and have no place else to turn. These individuals contribute so much to our lives through their artistry and creativity - now it's our turn to support the organization they can't live without - The Actors Fund." - Kevin McCollum

Jonathan M. Tisch is Co-Chairman of the Board and a member of the Office of the President of Loews Corporation, one of the largest diversified financial holding companies in the U.S., and is also Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of its subsidiary, Loews Hotels. Recognized as a national leader of the multi-billion dollar travel and tourism industry, Tisch founded and served as Chairman of the Travel Business Roundtable from 1995-2008 and in 2009 merged it with the Travel Industry Association to create the U.S. Travel Association, of which he serves as Chairman Emeritus. Tisch is committed to a vibrant tourism industry in New York City, where for nearly six years he served as Chairman of NYC & Company, the city's official tourism marketing agency and local convention and visitors bureau. Concurrent with his national efforts to help stimulate travel in the aftermath of September 11th, Tisch served as Chairman of "New York Rising," a task force set up to help rebuild the city by reviving tourism. Believing you can do well and do good at the same time, Tisch is a champion of corporate responsibility and his community and philanthropic activities are extensive. He served as the Vice-Chairman of The Welfare to Work Partnership, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Tufts University, where he is also the naming benefactor of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service. He is also on the Board of the Tribeca Film Institute and serves on the Board and is the Treasurer of the 2007 Super Bowl Champions New York Football Giants. Tisch is the author of two best-selling books, The Power of We: Succeeding Through Partnerships and Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing the Customer Experience, and his newest book, Citizen You: Doing Your Part to Change the World is due out in May 2010.

Cheyenne Jackson is an award winning stage and film actor who most recently starred as Woody in the Broadway revival of Finian's Rainbow at the ST. James Theatre. Prior to that Cheyenne was rocking the house as Sonny Malone in the smash hit Xanadu (Drama League, Drama Desk nominations) on Broadway. Off and on Broadway he starred as Joe Hardy in the New York City Center production of Damn Yankees opposite Jane Krakowski and Sean Hayes, Nicky Silver's The Agony & the Agony with Victoria Clark, All Shook Up (Theater World Award, Drama League, Outer Critics Circle nomination) the premier cast of Altar Boyz, Aida, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Cartells, On The 20th Century and The 24 Hour Plays.

Jackson's film credits include the Oscar nominated United 93, Curiosity and Hysteria. He has guest starred on TV in "30 Rock," "Ugly Betty," "Lipstick Jungle" and "Life After Mars." Additionally, he portrayed "Sebastian Kinglare" for the Sony/Lifetime Television pilot "Family Practice." Cheyenne made his sold-out club debut in with his show "Back to the Start" at Feinstein's at Loews Regency earlier this year.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.