When Gabrielle Union took the stage to accept the International Humanitarian award for the Cancun International Film Festival (
[[ ahref http www.ciff.com ]] www.ciff.com), I didn’t know what to expect. I had met the actress the previous evening and found her to be as down to earth as can be, but when it comes to Hollywood, first impressions can be deceiving. I thought maybe she might give a cheesy speech throwing in a few words of Spanish for good measure, meanwhile pitching some charity no one has ever heard of. What I didn’t predict was a speech that by far trumps anything we heard from her in Bring it On, that had the entire audience (even those who had no idea what she was saying) standing on their feet.
Union received the second to the last award at the festival’s gala, which saw best director and actress honors for the Mexican opening night film La Misma Luna , and declared the Brazilian film Mutum as the festival’s best. After several performances by “The next Ricky Martin” Alicastro, “The next Shakira” Valerie and the Latin equivalent to The Backstreet Boys, 305, Union was called to the stage to honor her humanitarian efforts at home and abroad.
After surviving a brutal rape at the age of nineteen, Union has become an activist for women’s rights, encouraging women to trust their instincts in shady situations and to come forward and speak out about crimes against them. The thirty-five year old actress is also a large proponent of breast cancer awareness and encouraged all the women in the audience to suck it up and get yearly screenings. She began her acceptance speech explaining why she decided to speak out for women, saying, “I got sick and tired of the same question…who’s a better kisser, LL Cool J or Will Smith (it’s a tie) and decided to start answering questions that mean something.” By now the audience was already surprised and engaged by this well-spoken beauty but when she yelled at the crowd to “stop caring about Britney Spears, she don’t care about you, start caring about yourself!” all eyes were glued to the stage.
Union then challenged the audience to make a difference, by embracing their passions, which she reminded us didn’t included “skinny jeans versus flair” but “something that actually means something.” Gabriele joked that despite her passion for film, they can’t all be winners and publicly apologized for The Honeymooners, offering the audience refunds if they were unfortunate enough to have seen it. And while it’s true Union has more bombs than hits under her belt, she certainly has a knack for public speaking. She leaned forward into the mic and left the audience with one final challenge, “Find someone less fortunate than you and act, whether it’s a large donation check if you can afford one, or just a kind word to a stranger, find someone who needs you and follow through.”
There I was, having only moments ago stressed about whether my dress was fancy enough for the occasion, when my jaw dropped to the ground because Gabrielle Union, an actress I only know because of my Bring it On obsession, had just blown me away.
