Actor Gary Sinise Reflects on Hollywood Career: ‘Life is About Giving Back, Serving’
By Movieguide® Staff
Actor Gary Sinise, best known for his role as Lt. Dan in 1994’s FORREST GUMP, recently shared how he balances Hollywood and his conservative values.
The Oscar nominated actor, who has also starred in faith-based successes like I STILL BELIEVE, now dedicates his time serving veterans through his foundation, the Gary Sinise Foundation.
The 67-year-old knows that he gave up time acting to serve veterans, but said that he does not regret either pursuit.
“I’ve had a blessed career in the movie and television and theater business,” Sinise said on an episode of “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?”. “I’ve done amazing things, I’ve worked with amazing people and it really played a major role, if not the key element, in what I’m doing today on the service side.”
Through the Gary Sinise Foundation, the actor helps military personnel, first responders, and their families who have experienced physical and mental trauma from serving the United States of America.
Sinise founded the organization in 2011.
The actor said that soon he began to pick roles that reflected his heart for service.
“For example … I had done nine seasons of ‘CSI: NY.’ Now, I had this public platform on television every week,” he explained. “I’m playing a character who is not only a police officer, but he was a veteran and he was a 9/11 family member.”
“That gave me an opportunity in a public way to honor the men and women who we lost on Sept. 11 and the firefighter we lost,” he added.
“Now life is so much more about giving back and trying to serve our veteran community and our first responder community,” he said.
- Content: +1Share:
- Content: +2