Variety’s Power of Women Honors Helen Mirren, Ava DuVernay, Scarlett Johansson, Laverne Cox, and Miley Cyrus
Variety has announced this year’s female entertainers for their annual Power of Women event: Helen Mirren, Ava DuVernay, Scarlett Johansson, Laverne Cox, and Miley Cyrus have been chosen as the five 2016 honorees.
Each year, the women selected represent “some of the most philanthropic women in Hollywood and their work with their respective causes.”
“For the past eight years, Variety has had the honor and pleasure of identifying leading women in entertainment who are dedicated to improving the community through the worthy causes they support,” said Claudia Eller, Variety co-editor-in-chief. “We are so pleased that once again our amazing partner Lifetime will join us to celebrate the achievements of our outstanding honorees.”
“It is an honor to continue this deeply meaningful partnership with Variety as we together celebrate the power of women’s collective voices dedicated to impacting the world around us in such profound ways,” added Liz Gateley, EVP and head of programming, Lifetime. “We couldn’t be more proud to use Lifetime’s global platforms to amplify the efforts of this year’s honorees and inspire others to join them.”
In addition to being honored at the ceremony, each woman selected has been given a cover story on the October 11 issue of Variety’s print magazine.
Mirren is involved with the group SAY, The Stuttering Association for the Young, which Mirren says encourages “making a space to be who you are, and be free and be accepted.” The Dame will be seen in this year’s “Collateral Beauty” as well as the upcoming “Fast 8” sequel.
DuVernay, who is having one hell of a successful year, supports the campaign 1000 Black Girl Books, which collects books about black women and girls. DuVernay is a vocal advocate of making Hollywood more inclusive, and cast her upcoming $100+ million Disney picture “A Wrinkle in Time” with a number of people of color, including Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kaling, and Storm Reid (“12 Years a Slave”). “I wanted to make sure all girls see themselves in the film,” DuVernay explained.
Johansson is using her platform to stand up for Planned Parenthood. “Somehow, a woman’s right to choose has become a subject that’s on the Republican platform,” she observed. “I don’t really know what it has to do with politics at all. It seems to be a deeply personal issue.” The “Avengers” star is an outspoken Clinton supporter. “Hillary is the right candidate for right now,” Johansson stated. “I think she’s got a lot of integrity. She’s got a lot of stamina. She’s a very clever politician, and that’s actually important to me. Maybe it’s because I have a daughter now.”
Cox’s charity work is with the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, an advocacy group that strives to respond to and prevent violence against members of LGBTQ communities.
“So many people have been inspired to live their truth as trans people, and so many people have begun to think differently about who transgender people are,” she said, noting that NCAVP is “changing the narrative of who LGBTQ people are.” She continued, “When we begin to change the narrative, then we reduce violence against those communities. And so much of that narrative comes from data collection. For years they’ve been the only agency tracking violence against the LGBTQ community. It is vital, vital work the NCAVP is doing to change the narrative, to change policy, to change lives.”
The “Orange is the New Black” star is playing Dr. Frank-N-Furter in Fox’s upcoming revamp of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
Cyrus continues to advocate for The Happy Hippie Foundation, which she started in 2014. The non-profit provides basic needs and support to homeless youth, the LGBTQ community, and other vulnerable populations.
The quintet will be celebrated at a ceremony in partnership with Lifetime in Los Angeles on October 14.
