LOS ANGELES, CA (September 12, 2014) – Today, the Diamond in the Raw Foundation announced its Seventh Annual Action Icon Awards to be held, Sunday, October 19, 2014 at the Skirball Cultural Community Center in Los Angeles. The annual awards show honors the unsung heroines of film and television the risk-taking stuntwomen along with action-oriented actresses and extreme sports stars. Over 12 categories will be recognized in the two hour private awards luncheon hosted by ESPN’s Kenny Mayne. Special honors will be given to legendary stuntwomen including Zoë Bell who will be bestowed the DIAMOND IN THE RAW AWARD having wooed audiences as the double for Uma Thurman in Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill,” his affable go to stunt performer in his award-winning films “Inglorious Basterds” and “D’Jango Unchained.” Sharon Schaffer will receive the FOUNDER’S AWARD and the HELEN GIBSON AWARD will be presented to Cheryl Wheeler Sanders – which pays homage to a veteran stuntwoman with over 30 years of industry experience. Other categories include ACTION ICON OF THE YEAR, DARE2BDifferent, GEM, JEWEL, DYNAMIC DUO and the coveted STUNTWOMAN OF THE YEAR.
In its seventh year, the Action Icon Awards is the preeminent awards show that continues to honor its unsung heroines of the motion picture industry. In previous years, awards were given to Angela Meryl, Donna Evans, Shauna Duggins, Heidi Moneymaker, Boni Yanagisawa, Alicia Vela-Bailey, Dartenea Bryant, Dorenda Moore, Ming Qiu, Lisa Hoyle, Luci Romberg and Jennifer Badger. Celebrity honors have included Maggie Q., Gabby Douglass, Linda Hamilton, Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Wagner, Pam Grier, Kelly Hu, Vivica A. Fox, Daniela Ruah, Nancy Lieberman, Laila Ali, Lisa Leslie, Gale Ann Hurd, Holly Robinson-Peete and Angela Bassett among many others. Conceived by Veteran Stuntwoman LaFaye Baker, the awards show benefits the Diamond in the RAW Foundation – a Los Angeles based non-profit organization serving at-risk teen girls in foster care. “As a product of the inner city, I am a firm believer that ‘if you see it you can be it.’ I established Diamond in the RAW to show young girls the myriad of opportunities behind the camera and to honor my peers in the stunt community whom are often overshadowed by their male counterparts,” says Baker.
The Action Icon Awards are being sponsored in partnership with SAG/AFTRA, CBS Television, Screen Actors Guild Producer’s IACF, Marika, Inc., and Mixed Chicks. Production partners include Stone Cold Action Productions, First Option Entertainment, DEW Event Management, Paradise Productions and Envy Public Relations.
For sponsorship and ticket information, please visit http://www.actioniconawards.com/ or call (800) 566-4714 ext. 83. For media and press inquiries, please contact LaTanya Marble (818) 795-3735 or envypublicrelations@gmail.com.
About Diamond in the Raw Foundation, Inc. (DITR)
The Diamond in the Raw Foundation is a recognized 501 © (3) non-profit organization dedicated to empowering and transforming the lives of foster care and at-risk teen girls between the ages of 12-18 through (S.T.E.A.M) sciences, technology, engineering, arts and math.
About the Action Icon Awards
The Diamond in the Raw Foundation produces the Action Icon Awards annually to salute Hollywood professional stuntwomen and actionoriented
actresses in film and television.
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