Former President Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton was born on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Arkansas. Clinton graduated from Georgetown University, won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University and received a law degree from Yale University in 1973.
In 1975, he married Hillary Rodham and in 1980, Chelsea, their only child, was born. Clinton was elected Arkansas Attorney General in 1976, and won the governorship in 1978. After losing a bid for a second term, he regained the office four years later, and served until his 1992 bid for the Presidency of the United States.
Elected President in 1992, and again in 1996, President Clinton was the first Democratic president to be awarded a second term in six decades. Under his leadership, the United States enjoyed the strongest economy in a generation and the longest economic expansion in U.S. history. President Clinton's core values of building community, creating opportunity, and demanding responsibility resulted in unprecedented progress for America, including moving the nation from record deficits to record surpluses; the creation of over 22 million jobs-more than any other administration; low levels of unemployment, poverty and crime; and the highest homeownership and college enrollment rates in history.
Following Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, President Clinton and former President Bush led a nationwide fundraising effort and established the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund to assist survivors in the rebuilding effort. President Clinton also served as the United Nations Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery for two years following the 2004 tsunami.
The Clinton Foundation and its Work
After leaving the White House, President Clinton established the William J. Clinton Foundation with the mission to strengthen the capacity of people in the United States and throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence.
Following the 2002 Barcelona AIDS Conference, President Clinton began the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) to assist countries in implementing large-scale, integrated, care, treatment and prevention programs that will turn the tide on the epidemic. It partners with countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Asia to develop operational business plans to scale-up care and treatment. CHAI works with individual governments and provides them with technical assistance, human and financial resources, and know-how from the sharing of the best practices across projects. CHAI is currently bringing life-saving care and treatment to over a million people around the world.
In September 2005, President Clinton hosted the inaugural meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). CGI is a non-partisan catalyst for action, bringing together a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges. The Clinton Global Initiative brings together current and former heads of state along with hundreds of other leaders from governments, the business community, and NGOs who contribute to innovative solutions to alleviate poverty, promote effective governance, reconcile religious conflicts, and protect the environment.
The Clinton Hunter Development Initiative is a collaborative effort of the Clinton Foundation and the Hunter Foundation to catalyze sustainable economic growth in Africa, specifically Rwanda and Malawi. CHDI emphasizes development programs that are integrated across sectors; scalable and sustainable by partner governments and communities; and responsive to market realities.
In the United States, President Clinton works with the American Heart Association on the Alliance for a Healthier Generation to combat childhood obesity and reverse this deadly trend facing American children. Through the Go Healthy Challenge, the Industry Program, the Healthcare Initiative, and the Healthy Schools Program, the Alliance will positively affect the places that can make a difference to a child's health: homes, schools, restaurants, doctor's offices and the community.
Trudie Styler
Trudie Styler's dynamic personality and incredible determination have made her one of the most powerful women in today's entertainment industry. Her passionate concerns for the environment and human rights motivate many of her career choices, but are reflected most clearly in her documentary films and fundraising activities.
With her production company Xingu Films, Trudie has used her creative talents and expertise in the field of cinema to produce award-winning films. Her first documentary, MOVING THE MOUNTAIN, was made for the BBC. Directed by Michael Apted, it told the stories of the student leaders of the 1989 student demonstration for democracy in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, and won an International Documentary Association Award. Subsequent documentaries include two with director John-Paul Davidson: BOYS FROM BRAZIL (1993), about Brazilian transvestite prostitutes; and THE SWEATBOX (2002), a documentary on the making of the Disney animated feature The Emperor's New Groove, during which Styler also stepped behind the camera to co-direct. She also produced the documentary A KIND OF CHILDHOOD (2002), directed by Cannes award-winning team Catherine and Tareque Masud. This moving film tracked the lives of a group of working children in Bangladesh over a period of six years, providing an intimate yet far-reaching exploration of child labour as a complex global issue, as well as showing the realities of survival for so many young people growing up in the developing world.
Styler's feature film productions and collaborations include THE GROTESQUE (1995) directed by John-Paul Davidson; Guy Ritchie's LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS (1998); the sequel SNATCH (2000); and Joel Hershman's GREENFINGERS (2001) starring Clive Owen and Helen Mirren. In 2003 Xingu Films completed CHEEKY by David Thewlis (co-produced with Luc Besson's EuropaCorp); and in 2005 released ALPHA MALE, written and directed by Dan Wilde.
Trudie's own directorial follow-up was the significantly praised romantic short WAIT (2005) which starred Tyson Beckford, Anna Chlumsky, and Kerry Washington. This popular film was prominently featured in Glamour Magazine's debut Reel Moments series.
Her most recent critically-acclaimed feature was the award-winning A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS, by writer-director Dito Montiel. This autobiographical picture about first-time writer and director Dito Montiel's troubled adolescence in Astoria, Queens won the coveted Dramatic Directing Award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was honored with a Special Jury Prize for Best Ensemble Cast, which includes Robert Downey Jr, Shia LaBeouf, Chazz Palminteri, Dianne Wiest, and Rosario Dawson. Other notable awards the film received include the Venice Film Festival's Critics Week Lion for Best Feature, the Venice Isvema Award for Dito Montiel and the Hollywood Life Breakthrough of the Year Award for Channing Tatum's performance.
Forthcoming projects include an adaptation of Haruki Murakami's novel SOUTH OF THE BORDER, WEST OF THE SUN, a co-production with Ruby Films (Proof; Elizabeth) and to be directed by Michael Radford.
A leading player in the Royal Shakespeare Company during the 1980s, Trudie studied drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and has extensive experience in British repertory theatres. Acting credits include roles in THE SCOLD'S BRIDLE (BBC, 1998); MIDSOMER MURDERS (ITV, 1999); a guest appearance in the US sitcom FRIENDS (2002); a major role in the US series EMPIRE (ABC); LOVE SOUP (BBC, 2005); ME WITHOUT YOU (2001); the ABC film CONFESSIONS OF AN UGLY STEPSISTER (2002); CHEEKY (2003); and ALPHA MALE (2005). She has also appeared on stage in America and Britain with husband Sting, giving fundraising performances of TWIN SPIRITS, a play written and directed by John Caird based on the love letters of the composers Robert and Clara Schumann.
In 1989, along with Sting, Trudie started the Rainforest Foundation Fund, an organization devoted to protecting rainforests and their indigenous peoples. Her efforts over the years have aided in expanding the project over three continents: South America, Africa and Asia. Since 1990, Trudie has produced 15 Rainforest Foundation Fund (RFF) Benefit concerts at New York's prestigious Carnegie Hall, working with some of the world's most exciting and talented international artists. Through her efforts Styler has raised more than $25 million dollars to help indigenous people empower themselves to protect their land from over-zealous industrialization and ensure the environmental protection of these areas, as well as the protection of indigenous species of the region. Her fundraising for the RFF has also taken Styler's career into the record industry, with the 1997 release of an album entitled CARNIVAL! through RCA Victor. The album debuted at #3 on the world music chart, and features an unprecedented assembly of top international artists from the classical, pop and world music genres. 2008 is a special year, marking the 20th anniversary of Trudie and Sting's first trip to the Brazilian Rainforest and their founding of the Rainforest Foundation Fund.
Many award-giving bodies have also recognized Trudie's charitable work for human rights and the environment. Styler was the Keynote Speaker at the Reebok Human Rights Awards in 1994, and her honours include: the 1994 Rainforest Hero Award by the Rainforest Action Network for her efforts in protecting the Xingu Park in Brazil; Outstanding Woman Environmentalist by the Center for Environmental Education; The Humanitarian Award (1995) from the Hospitality Committee for the United Nations delegations; the Ermenegildo Zegna International Environmental Award (1998) from GQ magazine; the Human Rights Champion Award (2000) from Amnesty International; a Forces for Nature Award (2002) from the Natural Resources Defense Council; the Liz Tilberis Humanitarian Award (2004); and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Environmental Media Association (2007). At the 2007 Millennium Summit in Montreal, she was a featured speaker alongside Desmond Tutu.
As an Ambassador for UNICEF, Trudie has raised nearly US$5million for UNICEF campaigns, including the End Child Exploitation Campaign, the Tsunami funds for Sri Lanka, and the Emergency Relief Fund for relief camps in Pakistan, Sudan and many other countries.
She remains committed to working to improve the lives of impoverished and exploited children all over the world.
Her current project unites the Rainforest Foundation Fund, the Frente de Defensa de la Amazonia, and UNICEF Ecuador in a unique collaboration to bring clean drinking water for the first time in thirty years to the indigenous communities of Ecuador, whose land and water have been recklessly and unnecessarily polluted by the oil industry since the late 1960s.
In 1999, Styler published The Lake House Cook Book, co-written with international chef Joseph Sponzo. Alongside Sponzo's recipes, she describes her family's move to the countryside and their successive move towards self-sufficiency through organic farming, a subject on which she has spoken publicly and passionately on several occasions. Trudie and Sting now commercially produce organic olive oil and honey from their Italian estate, Il Palagio, and from their farm in England have just launched their organic food brand, Lake House Organics. Styler also plays an active role in the UK's leading organic organization, The Soil Association.
As an actress, director, producer, and humanitarian, Trudie Styler continues to amaze us with her unique depth and range in the creative arts. Her ability to balance her artistic vision with her inspiring and revolutionary charitable campaigns reveal her as a true leader in making a difference in the world.
Sting
Composer, singer, actor, activist - Sting has won universal acclaim in all these roles, but he defies easy labeling. He's best described as an adventurer, a risk-taker. As he himself said, "I love to put myself in new situations. I'm not afraid to be a beginner." Husband and father of six, masterful guitarist and bassist, and also a devoted Yoga practitioner, he's made a career, in fact, of new beginnings.
A milkman's son from Newcastle, England, Sting was a teacher, soccer coach and ditchdigger before turning to music. Inspired equally by jazz and the Beatles (eclectic tastes that would prove prophetic), he met Stewart Copeland and they, along with guitarist Andy Summers, formed the Police in 1977. The band quickly became a success both in the UK and U.S. scoring several No. 1 hits including "Roxanne," "Every Breath You Take," "King of Pain," and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic." They earned five Grammy Awards and two Brits, and in 2003 the band was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The trio's live work forecast the astonishing inventiveness and range of influences that Sting would realize fully in his solo career.
With the release of Dream of the Blue Turtles in 1985, followed by Bring On The Night, Nothing Like The Sun, The Soul Cages, Ten Summoner's Tales, Mercury Falling, Brand New Day and All This Time, Sting has evolved into one of the world's most distinctive and highly respected performers, collecting as a solo performer an additional 11 Grammys, 2 Brits, a Golden Globe, an Emmy, three Oscar nominations, Billboard Magazine's Century Award, and MusiCares 2004 Person of the Year.
He has remained at the forefront of the public consciousness for 4 decades and has written some of the most enduring songs of our time, a talent perfectly showcased by his last record Sacred Love, released to both critical and commercial success. Most recently, Sting ventured into "new" musical territory with an album featuring the music of acclaimed Elizabethan songwriter, John Dowland (1563-1626) entitled Songs From the Labyrinth - which debuted at the top of the classical charts in the US, UK, France, Canada & Germany. He has also appeared in 15 films, Executive Produced the critically acclaimed, "A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints," and in 1989 starred in a Broadway play the "Threepenny Opera".
In 2007, The Police reformed and embarked on a world tour. This much heralded tour played to over 3.7 million people on five continents and ranked as the third highest grossing tour of all time. The Police world tour also garnered numerous accolades including 'Major Tour of the Year' (Pollstar), 'Top Selling' and 'Top Tour of the Year' (Billboard) as well as the People's Choice award for 'Favorite Reunion Tour of 2007.'
Also an accomplished author, Sting published a memoir entitled "Broken Music" in 2003, which spent 13 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Most recently, he released "Lyrics"- a comprehensive collection of lyrics and personal commentary, also featuring photographs from throughout his career.
Sting's support for human rights organization like the Rainforest Foundation, Amnesty International, and Live Aid mirrors his art in its universal outreach. Along with wife Trudie Styler, Sting founded the Rainforest Foundation in 1989 to protect both the world's rain forests and the indigenous peoples who live there. Together, they have raised more than $25 million dollars with their 15 benefit concerts to raise funds and awareness of our planet's endangered resources. Since its inception, the Rainforest Foundation has expanded to a network of interconnected organizations working in 23 countries around the globe.
