CNN Press Release - Hugh Jackman to Present PEOPLE Magazine’s 2008 ‘Heroes Among Us’

CNN today announced celebrities who will be participating in the second annual “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute,” which honors ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary things in their communities and beyond. Hosted by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, the program will air globally on Thanksgiving, Thursday, Nov. 27, at 9 p.m. (ET) on CNN/U.S., CNN International and CNN en Español.

Grammy Award-winning artists Alicia Keys and John Legend will each perform at the “CNN Heroes” gala. Celebrities slated to appear include: Cameron Diaz, Meg Ryan, Forest Whitaker, Salma Hayek, Lucy Liu, Terrence Howard, Jessica Biel, Kate Beckinsale and Selena Gomez. In addition, Hugh Jackman will present PEOPLE Magazine’s 2008 “Heroes Among Us”; PEOPLE has partnered with CNN for this portion of the telecast.

This year’s Blue Ribbon Panel judges included: Queen Rania Al Abdullah; Rabbi Shmuley Boteach; Sir Richard Branson; Deepak Chopra; Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE; Franklin Graham; Earvin “Magic” Johnson; George Lopez; Holly Robinson Peete; Jeffrey Sachs; Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu; and Kristi Yamaguchi.

This year’s Top 10 CNN Heroes, as selected by the Blue Ribbon Panel, were unveiled last month by Cooper on CNN’s American Morning, and their profiles are available at www.CNN.com/Heroes. The public will select the “CNN Hero of the Year” via voting at the CNN Heroes site through Wednesday, Nov. 19. At the Kodak Theatre gala, CNN will honor the 10 heroes and reveal the CNN Hero of the Year, who will receive an additional $100,000. In its second year, the multiplatform initiative received nearly 4,000 submissions from 75 countries.

Joel Gallen, who has helmed ambitious telethon events supporting victims of both the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina, returns as executive producer for the event. Kelly Flynn is senior executive producer for the CNN Heroes initiative.

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.