Fan*s can sometimes be obsessed with the on-screen work of their favorite actors. There’s nothing wrong with that; after all, I’m one of you! But what really makes a star of the screen worth adoring is what they do when the camera isn’t on them.
The media loves to talk about celebrities behaving badly. It seems we’re constantly seeing stories about stars getting arrested or going to rehab or egging people’s houses. Reality shows earn half of Hollywood a living showing the negative sides of stardom.
However, we rarely get to see stories in the news about the good things celebrities do for others. Sure, we all know a lot of celebrities donate and support charities. They are often photographed at dinners and various other fundraising events. However, there are some who choose to get more actively involved in the causes they care about. Here are just a few of those who use their fame for a better purpose.
Several members of the cast of Glee, including Chris Colfer, Darren Criss, and Jane Lynch, are big supporters of The Trevor Project, which provides “crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQ youth.” Bret Michaels, of Poison and Celebrity Apprentice fame, supports the American Diabetes Association and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, plus his mother helped start the Harrisburg Diabetic Youth Camp, a weeklong summer camp for children with diabetes in Harrisburg, Pa.
When Paul Walker passed away last year, we not only lost a good actor, but a great humanitarian. Hours after Haiti was hit by a devastating earthquake in 2010, Walker was organizing a group of friends to travel to the island and help, even with no way of knowing what he could do. Out of this came Reach Out WorldWide, an organization founded by Walker to organize first responders for natural disasters. Since Walker’s death, his brother Cody has joined the organization as brand manager, and ROWW is determined to continue the mission Walker started.
In real life, the much loved Tom Hiddleston couldn’t be more different from his hugely popular role as the trouble-making Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Last year, Hiddleston traveled to Guinea in West Africa with UNICEF UK. While there, he met with children and families and had the opportunity to tour several UNICEF project sites and learn about the work the group has been doing. Hiddleston shared his own thoughts about his time in Guinea. A few months later, he also participated in the Global Poverty Project’s “Live Below the Line” challenge, which asks participants to spend less than $1.50 per day for five days.
Vampire Diaries and Lost star Ian Somerhalder is a big animal lover, and several years ago he started his own organization, the Ian Somerhalder Foundation, which fights animal cruelty and raises awareness of global deforestation and conservation efforts. Somerhalder has been very active with the organization and maintains an online presence promoting the foundation and encouraging his fans to get involved.
Teen Wolf has a reputation for being a hormone-fueled drama in which guys just run around with their shirts off. While this isn’t necessarily true — there’s actually a lot more going on in that show than shirtless hunks — some of the series’ stars have decided to use that perception to their advantage. Toward the end of 2013, they launched Reflect it Back, a website selling calendars featuring photos of several Teen Wolf actors as well as some of their friends. The proceeds from the calendars go toward a fund to battle cystic fibrosis. The site also encourages fans to share what cause they are passionate about. In this way, the actors are encouraging activism in their young fanbase.
Fan*s know Zachary Levi as the star of the series Chuck and recent co-star as Fandral in Thor: The Dark World. In 2011, Levi founded “Nerd HQ” through his Nerd Machine website dedicated to nerd culture. Nerd HQ is an event at Comic-Con that has become almost as popular as the main event itself. Last year’s edition included autograph signings, a screening of Serenity, after-parties where fans mingled and danced with celebrities, and a panel series called “Conversations for a Cause” — an opportunity for many Fan* favorites to appear on panels where the proceeds go towards Operation Smile.
Operation Smile is an organization that provides surgeries to repair cleft lips, palates, and other facial dysmorphism in children all around the world. Nerd HQ raised $40,000 for the organization its first year and has grown exponentially, last year bringing in $215,000 through panels featuring celebrities like Nathan Fillion, Matt Smith, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Richard Madden, Hiddleston, and more. This year, the Nerd Machine is also serving as the title sponsor for Operation Smile’s third annual Park City Celebrity Smile Challenge, which partners celebrities with professional and amateur skiers to raise money for the organization’s efforts.
Perhaps one of my favorite celebrities when it comes to interaction with fans — and selflessly working for others — is Misha Collins. Supernatural fans know Collins as the angel Castiel, and he has developed a devoted following of “minions” on Twitter. While his character on Supernatural is often very serious, Collins himself has proven he has a wicked sense of humor and a wild imagination. With the help of his dedicated followers, Collins founded the non-profit organization Random Acts, which sponsors several events throughout the year, including “A Melee of Kindness” (AMOK), which occurred just last weekend. Participants all over the world “ran amok,” performing random acts of kindness such as shoveling sidewalks and “paying it forward” for future customers by buying “suspended coffees” or taping change to vending machines.
Through Random Acts, Collins also began “Hope 2 Haiti,” a campaign to benefit those affected by the 2010 earthquake. For the past three summers, anyone who has been interested in participating could raise money to travel to Haiti with Collins to work in the town of Jacmel. In 2012, actor Colin Ferguson — known for his roles on Syfy’s Eureka and Haven — raised funds and joined the team, helping to work on building a children’s center, completed last summer. Random Acts isn’t planning any more trips to Haiti, but the group is still accepting donations to continue to support their projects in Jacmel.
Collins also created the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen, more commonly referred to as GISHWHES. For the past three years, GISHWHES has earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest online scavenger hunt. Participants have to stage or find and then photograph items straight out of Collins’ insane imagination — items such as a person covered in cotton candy, artwork made out of candy, a Christmas Tree floating with helium balloons … and the list just gets crazier. Collins uses this Scavenger Hunt not just as a way for fans to have fun while competing for a chance to hang out with the actor himself, but as a way to spread his dedication to Random Acts. Each year, at least one or two of the items on the scavenger hunt list involve some sort of act of kindness: some participants visited hospital patients, while some handed out random gifts. GISHWHES requires a donation to participate, and all the money left after funding the prizes is donated to Random Acts.
So the next time you hear a report about yet another celebrity going to rehab, or some other negative news story, remember there are some out there who are doing real good in the world and attempting to make a difference, whether it’s through donations to an organization or by creating their own organizations and recruiting their fans to help. Represent your fandom well by being a part of these great opportunities.