Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles and the Inland Empire to Honor Top Entertainment Industry Talent at Rising Stars 2006 Gala

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles and the Inland Empire to Honor Top Entertainment Industry Talent at Rising Stars 2006 Gala

* Pixar and Disney Animation Studios' John Lasseter * Television Anchor, Legal Analyst, Trial Attorney, Actor and Author Rikki Klieman Bratton * Actors Andrea Bowen and Tyler James Williams Among Honorees

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles and the Inland Empire (BBBSLAIE) will honor top talent from the entertainment industry at its Rising Stars Gala, November 30, 2006 at The Beverly Hilton Hotel. The awards recognize outstanding members of the entertainment community who are inspiring and positive role models for young people.

Academy Award(R)-winner John Lasseter, chief creative officer of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios and principal creative advisor of Walt Disney Imagineering, will receive the "Walt Disney Man of the Year Award." Television anchor, legal analyst, trial attorney, actor and best-selling author Rikki Klieman Bratton will receive the "Sherry Lansing Award" for her support of many philanthropic causes and passion for mentoring young people. Actors Andrea Bowen of Desperate Housewives and Tyler James Williams of Everybody Hates Chris are set to receive this year's "Rising Star Awards."

The evening will feature entertainment by Oscar, Emmy and Grammy Award- winner Randy Newman and an opportunity drawing for a 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 donated by Chrysler Financial.

Honorary gala dinner co-chairs are former honorees Roy E. Disney, Sherry Lansing and Melanie Cook; along with last year's honorary co-chair, Steve Soboroff.

"Our organization is incredibly fortunate to have such extraordinary role models and supporters," said John Kobara, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles and the Inland Empire President and CEO. "We are grateful to John Lasseter, Rikki Klieman Bratton, Andrea Bowen and Tyler James Williams for their dedication, support and efforts toward positively impacting the lives of the children in our community."

John Lasseter, chief creative officer of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios and principal creative advisor of Walt Disney Imagineering, will receive the "Walt Disney Man of the Year Award." Mr. Lasseter is a two-time Academy Award(R)-winning writer, director and animator. He directed Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2 and Cars and executive produced Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and The Incredibles.

Television anchor, legal analyst, trial attorney, actor and best-selling author Rikki Klieman Bratton will receive the "Sherry Lansing Award." An anchor at the Courtroom Television Network since 1994 and now a legal analyst with CBS, she has also worked for NBC's Today Show and the E! Network. In 2003, Rikki relocated from New York to California to join her husband, Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton, where she pursues her passions of mentoring young people and joining in the fight against domestic violence. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Rape Treatment Center of UCLA-Santa Monica and the Board of Directors of LA's Best, an after school enrichment program for disadvantaged elementary school children. She continues to inspire the lives of others with her autobiography, Fairy Tales Can Come True -- How a Driven Woman Changed Her Destiny.

The "Rising Star Awards" will be presented to two members of the entertainment community who serve as positive role models to young people, Andrea Bowen and Tyler James Williams. Andrea just began her third season of the ABC hit series Desperate Housewives, in which she portrays Julie Mayer, daughter of Susan Mayer played by Teri Hatcher. Tyler stars as Chris, in Chris Rock's comedy hit Everybody Hates Chris, now on the CW Network.

Previous Big Brothers Big Sisters honorees include: Sherry Lansing, Richard Cook, Jodie Foster, Robin Williams, Pam Dawber, Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Garry Marshall, Dawn Ostroff, Zach Braff, Amber Tamblyn, Hilary Duff, Andy Garcia, Serena Williams, Amy Pascal, Gil Cates, Wayne Gretzky, Renee Zellweger, Neil Simon, Marcy Carsey, Mandy Moore, *NSYNC, Chevy Chase, Gale Anne Hurd, Melanie Cook, Dakota Fanning, Renee Olstead and Nick Cannon.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles and the Inland Empire is dedicated to empowering children who face economic, emotional and social challenges through a variety of programs, which provide a professionally supported, one- to-one mentoring relationship with a positive role model.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is the nation's preeminent youth- service organization. For more than 100 years, the national organization has assisted boys and girls in achieving their highest potential as they grow to become confident, competent and caring individuals through professionally supported one-to-one relationships with caring men and women. Their work is as elementary as putting an adult friend in a child's life, and as essential as putting hope into a child's future. Big Brothers Big Sisters have proven successful in creating and nurturing relationships between adults and children. Mentoring works one young person at a time. Today, Big Brothers Big Sisters serves hundreds of thousands of children in 5,000 communities across the country. As an organization, they are continually growing: Their goal is to provide Bigs to one million children by 2010. For more information, please visit http://www.bbbslaie.org/ .

Ticket and table packages begin at $350. For event tickets and table package information, please call (323) 904-4400.

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Source: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles; Chrysler Financial

CONTACT: Katy Sweet, katysweet1@aol.com , or Pam Giangregorio of Katy
Sweet & Associates, +1-323-852-0772; or Amber Gowen of Chrysler Financial,
+1-248-427-3126, arp11@dcx.com

Web site: http://www.daimlerchryslerfinancialservices.com/na
http://www.bbbslaie.org/

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