DUBAI: Hollywood star and activist Charlize Theron will attend the annual Global Teacher Prize in Dubai on Sunday night. Theron, star of “Atomic Blonde” and “Mad Max: Fury Road,” won an Oscar for her performance in 2003’s “Monster.” She is one of several celebrities who have flown into the UAE for tonight’s ceremony, including West Indian cricket icon Brian Lara, Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra, British athlete Sir Mo Farah, and successful actors Taron Egerton (“Kingsman”) and Gina Torres and Sarah Rafferty (“Suits”).
The prize is just one of many good causes that Theron supports. She has recently worked with British-American actor David Oyelowo on the movie “Gringo,” and last week posted her support on Instagram for the GEANCO Foundation, with which Oyelowo works extensively.
“In doing this movie I learned how much I love @davidoyelowo, but also that we are unexpectedly a lot alike,” Theron wrote, before reposting from the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, “Our friends at (GEANCO) are doing really important work in Nigeria. GEANCO provides scholarships, medical and psychological care to girls victimized by terrorism there.”
Tonight’s award ceremony marks the end of Dubai’s Global Education and Skills Forum. The Global Teacher Prize was established in 2015 by Sunny Varkey — founder of the UAE-based GEMS Education Group — in an attempt to boost the profession’s global profile; hence the celeb-garnished ceremony. Each year, the prize is awarded to a teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to their profession. Last year, the award went to Canadian teacher Maggie MacDonnell for her efforts to increase girls’ registration at a school in the Inuit region of Nunavik.
