Words by Smiley Team
Michael Sheen has declared himself a “not for profit” actor.
In an interview with The Big Issue, he said he plans to stop seeking profits from his acting career – and will instead give away any extra money he makes to support social projects.
“I’ve realised in the last few years that I want to be one of those people who help other people the way so many people helped me,” he said, adding that he doesn’t want to look back in years to come and wish he could’ve done something with his platform and his money.
[Read more positive news stories about people giving back on Smiley Movement]
Michael said while working on The Passion, a National Theatre production in 2011, he got to know people and organisations in his hometown that he didn’t know existed. But these small organisations struggled with funding – and when he came back a few months later, they’d lost the funding and could no longer carry on with their work.
“I wanted to help those people,” he said. “I didn’t just want to be a patron or a supportive voice, I wanted to actually do more than that.”
In 2019, he gave money to the Homeless World Cup in Cardiff to keep it going. “There was something quite liberating about going, alright, I’ll put large amounts of money into this or that, because I’ll be able to earn it back again,” he said.
“I’ve essentially turned myself into a social enterprise, a not-for-profit actor.”
Michael Sheen was interviewed in The Big Issue Magazine, out this week.
