Gabrielle Carteris president of SAG-AFTRA, has honored actor, activist and national board member Michelle Hurd with the SAG-AFTRA President’s Award. This prestigious honor recognizes individuals demonstrating outstanding commitment to SAG-AFTRA’s membership and the labor movement.
“Michelle Hurd is a changemaker. She is a shining example of how to balance a successful acting career with dedicated union service and a commitment to improving the lives of SAG-AFTRA members and all workers,” said Carteris. “Michelle has led from the frontlines in our efforts to ensure the safety and protection of SAG-AFTRA members and to help eradicate sexual harassment from the entertainment industry. Additionally, she represented the organization before legislative bodies advocating for laws that support and empower members and all workers. Because of her efforts, Hollywood is a safer and better place. Our members are forever indebted to Michelle for her selfless commitment to the SAG-AFTRA mission and we look forward to continuing our partnership in the years ahead.”
Hurd has enjoyed a dynamic career on and off set. She is an activist national board member who has played a starring role in advancing efforts to remove sexual harassment and assault from the entertainment industry and make sets safer. As a member of the SAG-AFTRA President’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Safety and the union’s sexual harassment workgroup, she has worked to provide resources to members who experienced instances of sexual harassment and assault and assisted in developing updated guidelines and policies to eliminate harassment and assault from the industry. Her work led to the creation and development of the Intimacy Coordinator initiative and helped spur the creation of SAG-AFTRA Safe Place, a reporting platform that allows members to discreetly report incidents of sexual harassment.
Hurd’s early boardroom advocacy of the intimacy coordinator profession helped launch the union’s IC work group which led to the development and release of the industry-defining standards and protocols for use of intimacy coordinators in January 2020. In April 2021, the union announced Phase II of the initiative, releasing intimacy coordinator standards for training and qualifications, and introducing a new registry system. When complete, the registry system will ensure a diverse pipeline of certified professionals dedicated to keeping actors safe. Intimacy coordinators are trained professionals who specialize in protecting actors during intimate or simulated sex scenes while fulfilling the director’s vision.
As part of her advocacy, she partnered with fellow actor Kate Rigg to create an actor-specific intimacy protection guide for members called Sex, Nudity and You, which was included in a special pull-out section of the SAG-AFTRA magazine and is available on the union website.
Hurd currently stars in Star Trek: Picard and has been a mainstay on television for years, appearing in Blindspot; Law & Order: SVU; Hawaii Five-O; Daredevil and many other shows.
