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Brooke Shields, the model-turned-actor who has starred in movies, on tv and onstage, has been elected as the subsequent president of Actors’ Equity Association, the labor union representing stage actors and stage managers.
Shields, 58, will take workplace instantly. She succeeds Kate Shindle, who had been the union’s president since 2015, and introduced final month that she wouldn’t search re-election.
The place of Equity president is a volunteer job, and Shields was elected to a four-year time period. There have been quite a lot of different well-known performers who’ve served within the submit beforehand, together with Burgess Meredith, Ellen Burstyn, Colleen Dewhurst and Ron Silver.
Shields received the election with about half the vote; the stability was cut up between two Equity vice presidents, Erin Maureen Koster and Wydetta Carter. Her victory was reported by the e-newsletter Broadway Journal and introduced by the union on Friday; a union spokesman mentioned she was not obtainable for an interview.
In a marketing campaign video posted on YouTube, Shields mentioned that amongst her priorities could be lobbying for higher authorities funding for the humanities. “I perceive the actual have to assist dwell theater, and I’ve a historical past of with the ability to open doorways and of with the ability to assist,” she mentioned.
Equity has about 51,000 members, and represents them in contract negotiations across the nation. Just final week, the union received the proper to symbolize a wide range of performers at Disneyland, so the union will now have to attempt to discount for a contract for these employees.
The union is negotiating for a brand new contract for Off Broadway employees, and it’s at odds with the Broadway League over a brand new contract governing developmental work — how performers are compensated when collaborating in workshops for exhibits in growth. Equity has threatened that its members would cease engaged on these developmental initiatives if a deal just isn’t reached by mid-June.
Shields turned well-known by way of movies like “Pretty Baby” and “The Blue Lagoon” and by modeling, notably for Calvin Klein. She has appeared in 5 Broadway musicals, all the time as a alternative: “Grease,” “Chicago,” “Cabaret,” “Wonderful Town” and “The Addams Family,” in addition to a handful of Off Broadway exhibits.
Her early profession, and the problematic methods by which she was sexualized as a baby and adolescent, was the topic of a documentary final 12 months.
