The Gwyneth Paltrow You May Not Know

There's a lot about Gwyneth Paltrow you may not know. You may only know her as a pretty face or a famous movie star. You may have seen her in the role that she garnered an Oscar for as best actress, as well as a Golden Globe Award, and two Screen Actors Guild awards, the fictional love of William Shakespeare, in Shakespeare in Love, in 1996. You may have seen her in some of numerous movies and roles on stage, with one of her earliest roles being the young Wendy in Hook. She has had numerous minor and major roles since then including roles in Malice, Flesh and Bone, Emma (which earned her critical acclaim), The Talented Mr. Ripley, Duets, Shallow Hal, and others.

Did you know, however, that Gwyneth Paltrow is more involved in charitable work than the vast majority of other Hollywood celebrities? She has supported UNICEF, food banks, cancer research, charities that give baby supplies to those who cannot afford them, charities that give educational and emotional support for children, AIDS research, and others.

Her favorite charity is Kids Company, which gives educational and emotional support to children the inner city and those with social, behavioral, and emotional problems. Her husband, Chris Martin, is in the band, Coldplay, and in 2009 the band donated one million pounds to the charity in the United Kingdom. She has helped the charity herself, as she sold personal items at an auction in 2008 to benefit Kids Company. She has also designed a line of clothes to benefit the charity.

In 2008 Gwyneth Paltrow donated $75,000 to the Food Bank for New York City. More than 1.5 million residents of America's biggest city receive help from the charity every year, totaling 68 million pounds of food. A total of 250,000 free meals a day are served.

"I've been thinking about all ... my children have and how much food we throw away," Paltrow was quoted on looktothestars.org as saying to guests at a gala for the charity. "We have to do better."

She has narrated a film for UNICEF about babies born in Africa with AIDS, in an attempt to raise awareness of the issue. According to information from the charity, it only costs $2 per treatment to keep 98% of the mothers with the disease from passing it on to their children.

Gwyneth Paltrow also appeared in a series of advertisement to support Key to the Cure, which is seeking a cure for cancer in women.

She has been busy designing clothes for charities. Besides the designs for Kids Company, she created a bikini for Lilly Pulitzer Colorful Cause: Celebrity Designer Program, supporting The EB Medical Research Foundation.

There are other things the famous actress may not be as well known as her acting. Even though many saw her singing performance on the CMA award show, as she sang Country Strong from a movie of the same name that was not her first performance singing. Vince Gill backed her up in the performance, as she also played a guitar. She also sang in Duets with Huey Lewis.

"I actually feel better this week about singing the song on the awards show," Paltrow explained on abcnews.go.com her nervousness at performing. "I was really bad last week; I lost my appetite and I couldn't sleep. I feel prepared this week. If I can keep my nerves under control I can survive it."

The next time you see Gwyneth Paltrow in a movie; remember there's a lot more to her than just a pretty face or good acting.

Citations:

Gwyneth Paltrow, no author listed, en.wikipedia.org

Search Results for Gwyneth Paltrow, no author listed, looktothestars.org

Gwyneth Paltrow: Actress, Singer, Southern Farmer? by Vernell Hackett, abcnews.go.com