Helen Mirren, Will Ferrell Join Lineup of Speakers at The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Gala

THR Staff
·3 min read
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The Hollywood Reporter said Tuesday that Academy Award winner and 2010 Sherry Lansing Leadership Award honoree Helen Mirren will present this year’s award to Adele at the breakfast gala, presented by Lifetime, on Dec. 7 in Los Angeles.

Actor, writer and producer Will Ferrell will be the opening speaker. Ferrell, via his Gloria Sanchez Productions, is a producer of the Netflix release May December.

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A lineup including Camila Cabello, Lily Gladstone, Dua Lipa, Billie Lourd and Bryan Lourd will present more than $1 million in university scholarships to high school seniors from underserved communities participating in THR’s acclaimed Women in Entertainment Mentorship Program. The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation is underwriting two scholarships, one to Chapman University and one to Loyola Marymount University. This will mark the eighth year that The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation has underwritten full-ride scholarships to graduates of the program. The National Association of Theatre Owners of California Nevada is underwriting its third annual scholarship to Chapman University. CAA CEO and co-chairman Bryan Lourd and actress Billie Lourd will also present one student with the Carrie Fisher Scholarship to Chapman University, which the former first handed out in 2019 in honor of the late star. Billie Lourd is Fisher’s daughter.

Mirren, Ferrell, Cabello, Gladstone, Lipa and the Lourds join Adele, whom The Hollywood Reporter previously announced will receive the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award, and Kerry Washington, who will receive the Equity in Entertainment Award. Academy Award-winning actress Ariana DeBose will present Washington with the award at the gala, which will be attended by nearly 600 industry leaders and VIPs.

“We’re honored to have 2010’s Sherry Lansing Leadership Award honoree pass the torch this year to Adele,” said co-editors in chief Nekesa Mumbi Moody and Maer Roshan. “We’re also incredibly grateful to Will Ferrell, Camila Cabello, Lily Gladstone, Dua Lipa, Billie Lourd and Bryan Lourd for joining us to celebrate the occasion in support of our mentorship program and to help these young women achieve their dreams.”

Camila Cabello, Lily Gladstone , Dua Lipa, Billie Lourd and Bryan Lourd
From left: Camila Cabello, Lily Gladstone, Dua Lipa, Billie Lourd and Bryan Lourd

The breakfast celebration coincides with the release of THR’s much-anticipated annual Women in Entertainment issue of the magazine (arriving on newsstands Dec. 7), which highlights the Power 100, the leading female executives, creatives, talent and reps in entertainment.

Also in attendance will be nearly 40 young women representing the incoming and graduating cohorts of the WIE Mentorship Program, which is about to celebrate its 14th year. Each year, the program pairs 15 to 20 high school juniors with some of the top women in film and TV. Mentors have included Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke, Netflix Global TV head Bela Bajaria, NBCUniversal Studio Group chairman and chief content officer Donna Langley and Disney General Entertainment Content chairman Dana Walden. More than 275 girls and 275 mentors have taken part in the program. Supported by more than $13 million that THR has raised in scholarships, mentees have gone on to top universities, including Harvard, UC Berkeley and Northwestern.

Lifetime, the founding sponsor of this event, has been a partner of the Women in Entertainment Mentorship Program since its inception and is a major contributor to its general scholarship fund, ensuring that each mentee receives a $10,000 scholarship to their college of choice. Lifetime has also produced a short film highlighting the mentorship program to premiere at the event.The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment event is presented by Lifetime, and sponsored by Cadillac, Gersh, Google, SAG-AFTRA and Upneeq, and presented in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles, Chapman University and Loyola Marymount University.

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