Alec Baldwin Named SAG Foundation Ambassador

Award-Winning Actor to Raise Awareness, Funding for Actors’ Charity

LOS ANGELES (January 23, 2011) -- The Screen Actors Guild Foundation is proud to announce  Alec Baldwin as its first Ambassador, a new position designed to draw attention to the national non-profit organization and its ongoing work as a vital, humanitarian support system within the acting community. The announcement was made today by SAG Foundation President, JoBeth Williams.

Baldwin’s role as Ambassador will raise awareness within the acting community to highlight the Foundation’s philanthropic programs while encouraging the greater public to provide much-needed contributions. A new public service announcement featuring Baldwin will premiere at the Screen Actors Guild Awards® ceremony taking place January 29, continuing the show’s history as a champion of the SAG Foundation’s mission to assist, educate, and inspire. The SAG Awards® and its sponsors have long supported the SAG Foundation’s efforts, among them the children’s literacy core program BookPALS (Performing Artists for Literacy in Schools), which engages 2000 actors nationwide in reading to over 100,000 children each month. The SAG Foundation also administers the Catastrophic Health Fund and Emergency Assistance Programs, which provide financial aid to professional actors who are suffering from work-prohibitive illness or injury or are struggling to maintain the basic necessities of life. In addition, the SAG Foundation’s Actor Center and Don LaFontaine Voice-Over Lab are unique educational facilities.

“The SAG Foundation is extremely fortunate to have Alec Baldwin on board as our first SAG Ambassador,” says SAG Foundation President JoBeth Williams. “His talent, intelligence, and compassion will greatly benefit the countless working actors we serve on a daily basis. By accepting this position, Alec is already speaking on behalf of his fellow actor, and his involvement will do much to strengthen and protect the artistic community.”

The announcement also coincides with Baldwin’s two current SAG Award® nominations for his work in the series “30 Rock”, for outstanding performance by a male actor in a comedy series as well as his role in the show’s ensemble.

“It is personally important to me that SAG members support the SAG Foundation,” says Baldwin.  “Through my involvement, I hope to bring greater recognition to its philanthropic and educational efforts.”

ABOUT SAG FOUNDATION
Founded in 1985, the Screen Actors Guild Foundation is an educational, humanitarian and philanthropic national 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The mission of the SAG Foundation is to assist, educate and inspire actors toward their fullest potential in career, life, and community. Our programs reflect the concerns and interests of actors as well as their desire to "give back" to their communities. Programs include the Catastrophic Health Fund and assistance programs, Life Raft, Conversations, Casting Access Project, which all offer career knowledge and inspiration, as well as the award winning children’s literacy programs, BookPALS and Storyline Online. In addition, the SAG Foundation Actors Center and the Don LaFontaine Voice-Over Lab are unprecedented resource and educational facilities located in Los Angeles. The Foundation is independent from SAG and relies solely on the support from grants, corporate sponsorships, bequests, and individual contributions to maintain our programs and create new ones. Visit www.sagfoundation.org.

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Media Contact: Stacey Mooradian, SAG Foundation, (323) 549-6661, smooradian@sagfoundation.org