Tag Archives: Tom Hiddleston

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Some stars have softer sides, donate time

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.

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Fandom on stage: The wheel is come full circle

When people think of hardcore fan*s, they often picture stereotypes like the guys of The Big Bang Theory hanging out in the comic book store, or of the legions of fan*s and cosplayers at Comic-Con. Rarely is the first thing on someone’s mind when fanning is mentioned going to be Shakespeare or theater.

However, believe it or not, some of the biggest celebrities that fan*s have fallen in love with also perform Shakespeare on stage in live theater. Fan*s can dress up as the Doctor at Comic-Con and also enjoy Shakespeare; the two aren’t mutually exclusive. And sometimes, those interests even overlap.

Recently, Tom Hiddleston, whom most fan*s recognize as Loki from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starred in a stage production of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus produced by National Theatre Live in London. While most Americans weren’t able to travel to see the live production at the Donmar Warehouse in England, National Theatre Live records its plays and broadcasts them in certain theaters around the globe. It’s an excellent way to see brilliant British theatre productions when you’re stuck stateside, like me.

This production of Coriolanus was fantastic. Even Hiddleston fan*s have to admit he was just one of the many terrific things about this play. The production made superb use of a black box space, using just a simple square stage with no scenery or backdrop aside from the cement wall of the warehouse behind them. Coriolanus is a fairly raw play to begin with, and stripping it down to, for the most part, just the actors on the stage really focused attention on the performances, which were all brilliant.

Aside from Hiddleston, fan*s may also recognize Mark Gatiss, co-creator and star of Sherlock, as well as Alfie Enoch, better known as Dean Thomas from the Harry Potter movies.

Another production that National Theatre Live broadcasts in the States almost every year is a fascinating staging of Frankenstein directed by Danny Boyle, known for Slumdog Millionaire and more. This production stars two Sherlocks, each taking turns with the two lead roles. One night, Benedict Cumberbatch will play Dr. Frankenstein while Jonny Lee Miller plays the Creature, and the next night they switch roles. I’ve seen the version with Cumberbatch playing the Creature and it was incredible. If, for any reason, anyone still doubts Cumberbatch’s acting abilities, they need only watch this production to have that doubt erased.

If you’re a fan* as well as a Broadway lover, there have been many opportunities for your interests to overlap recently. Doctor Who fan favorite Arthur Darvill was starring in Once for several months, which I’m sure was enjoyable if you had a chance to see it. Also, at the beginning of January, Chuck’s Zachary Levi finished up a run with the musical First Date, which was wonderful, according to reviews. Emmy-winner Jim Parsons also made his Broadway debut in the 2011 production of The Normal Heart, which is being adapted as a television movie this year.

I can’t mention Broadway productions without bringing up one of the best friendships in the business: Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan, who are starring in repertory productions of No Man’s Land and Waiting for Godot that have gotten rave reviews. And if you follow either of these gentlemen on Twitter, you know just how awesome they really are. As an added bonus, these productions also star Billy Crudup, who may be more recognizable to some fans as Watchmen’s Dr. Manhattan.

McKellan and Stewart are also both accomplished Shakespearean actors. Recently, Stewart played a small role in the BBC’s The Hollow Crown, a miniseries adapting the second of the Bard’s historical tetralogies: Richard II; Henry IV, Part 1; Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V. Stewart played John of Gaunt in Richard II. He has also played Claudius on stage and on film in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet, which starred another fan* favorite, David Tennant.

Tennant is probably most famous for his role as the 10th Doctor on the long-running British sci-fi series Doctor Who. He also played Barty Crouch Jr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Recently, he has taken on a variety of roles, including starring in several stage productions of Shakespeare’s works. In just the last few years, he has appeared as Hamlet, Benedek in Much Ado About Nothing (alongside former Doctor Who companion Catherine Tate), and Richard II in the Royal Shakespeare Company production.

Speaking of Shakespeare, I’d be remiss if I didn’t include possibly the ultimate crossover between fandom and Shakespeare: Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing. The movie was filmed during a break in filming The Avengers and stars many of the actors fan*s have come to know and love from Whedon’s other beloved series. The entire film was shot at Whedon’s own home in black and white and is one of my favorite film adaptations of Shakespeare ever.

The best parts of the film are all the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) actions and expressions of the characters in the background. The film flows with a relaxed pace and it’s easy to feel the chemistry and friendship between the actors. This was a project most of them did for fun because they enjoyed working together, and I think some of that comes through in the finished product. If you’re a fan* as well as a Shakespeare lover, I cannot recommend this film highly enough.

And finally, we’ve come full circle. Aside from Hiddleston’s recent stage performance of Coriolanus, he also starred as Prince Hal, the man who becomes Henry V, in the The Hollow Crown. The series aired in the United Kingdom shortly before the Summer Olympics in 2012, and in the United States back in September. It can now be purchased on DVD, and each play is a fairly faithful adaptation of Shakespeare’s work. They are beautifully filmed and the cast is magnificent: aside from Hiddleston and Stewart, you also have Jeremy Irons, Ben Whishaw, Michelle Dockery, Joe Armstrong, Simon Russell Beale, and many others, all of whom are amazing.

This is just an overview of a few of the theatre works some of our favorite celebrities have done in the last few years. If you know of something I missed, feel free to share it in the comments so we can all experience it! One of my favorite parts of being a fan* is introducing people to new things; you wouldn’t believe how many Supernatural and Doctor Who converts I’ve made over the years.

Like I said last week, we now live in a time where it’s cooler to be a fan* than it used to be, so let’s take advantage of that and show everyone just how cool we can be. We can fan out over the new Guardians of the Galaxy trailer or Benedict Cumberbatch on Sesame Street and still enjoy things like Shakespeare and wine.

To be or not to be isn’t the question any more, because now we can have both.