December 8th, 2011

CNN Announces Celebrity Presenters for 2011 CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute

Top 10 Heroes to be Honored Live Sunday, December 11, 2011 at 8 PM ET

CNN, the worldwide leader in news, announced new show details and additions to the line-up for CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute.  Hosted by Anderson Cooper, the show honors everyday people doing extraordinary things, and will air live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, CA,  globally on CNN’s networks including CNN/U.S., HLN, CNN International and CNN en Español. Additionally Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the multiple Emmy®-award winning chief medical correspondent for CNN, will conduct exclusive backstage interviews streamed live on CNN.com during the show with bonus content available on CNN’s mobile apps for iPad, iPhone and Android.

Each of the Top 10 CNN Heroes, whose profiles are available to view at www.cnnheroes.com, received a $50,000 grant for being named as this year’s honorees. One of 2011 CNN Heroes will be named the “CNN Hero of the Year” live on the tribute show, as voted by fans across the globe, and will receive an additional $250,000 grant to further aid their charitable work.

During the live broadcast, the Top 10 CNN Heroes will each have his or her story told by a celebrity. CNN is proud to announce additional celebrity presenters and participants including:

•    Jerry Seinfeld, Stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television and film producer
•    George Lopez, entertainer and long-time supporter of CNN Heroes, will be introducing Hometown Heroes, showing viewers what you can do to be a hero in your very own backyard
•    Sofia Vergara, Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG-nominated actress
•    Mary-Louise Parker, Award winning actress, Showtime’s Weeds and supporter of Hope North Uganda
•    Ice Cube, Rapper, actor, screenwriter and producer
•    Laura Dern, Golden Globe Award winning Actress and star of HBO’s Enlightened
•    Chris Colfer, Golden Globe winner, two-time Emmy nominee, SAG nominee, and star of Fox’sGlee, will be presenting to youths who are being recognized and honored by CNN as “Young Wonders.”
•    Emma Roberts, Actress, will be presenting to youths who are being recognized and honored by CNN as “Young Wonders.”

Joining Colfer and Roberts in presenting the “Young Wonders” is Miley Cyrus, who will also be performing her triple platinum hit “The Climb” and Kid Rock will perform a special live version of “Care” from his platinum selling album, “Born Free.”

This news comes on the heels of announcing Dancing with the Stars winner and All My Children actor, J.R. Martinez, The Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am, global maternal health advocate and founder of Every Mother Counts, Christy Turlington Burns, and NFL Super Bowl champ and MVP quarterback Kurt Warner, as presenters last week.

As previously announced, J.R. Martinez, will be co-hosting the live pre-show, Showbiz Tonight @ CNN Heroes, with AJ Hammer, host of HLN’s evening show, Showbiz Tonight. Holly Robinson Peete will be hosting the social media suite on the red carpet. Showbiz Tonight’s correspondent, Kareen Wynter, will also be part of the pre-show, interviewing the arriving celebrities on the red carpet.The Showbiz Tonight @ CNN Heroes pre-show will air live on CNN and HLN at 7 PM ET/ 4 PM PT.

CNN and GetGlue have teamed up to offer limited edition CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute stickers. Through their mobile devices, GetGlue app users can ‘check-in’ to the broadcast to unlock exclusive stickers that can be shared on social platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Fans can also make a direct charitable donation to their favorite Top 10 CNN Heroes’ nonprofit using Google Wallet through December 31, 2011. Google is waving all transaction fees enabling 100 percent of the donations to go directly to the CNN Heroes’ non-profit organizations.

Kelly Flynn is the Senior Executive Producer for the “CNN Heroes” initiative and CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute. This year’s show will be produced by Ian Stewart and Hamish Hamilton of Done and Dusted.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media. For more information, visit http://www.CNNPressroom.com.