Happy 57th Birthday to Daryl Hannah! The actress is known for several movies, such as her roles in Splash, Blade Runner, and in Steel Magnolias. Daryl Hannah also had a role in the Kill Bill films, directed by Quentin Tarantino. In her personal life, she deals with personal issues of autism. As she told People Magazine, doctors wanted to send her to an institution when she was a child, but her mother did not want her to be taken to any such place. As she told the magazine, she fell in love with movies and she ended moving from Chicago to LA when she was just 17 years old to pursue her acting career.

Hannah is also a very active environmental activist and continues to work toward saving and preserving the environment. Speaking of which, she is featured heavily in the 2009 documentary film Welcome to Eden, which focuses on the former largest urban farm in the nation in South Central Los Angeles. While developers had plans for its demolition and retail development, she fought for the right of inner-city dwellers to have access to fresh food and community. While she didn’t protest by living in one of the trees at the farm land, she certainly spoke out with passion to assist in keeping their community farm alive.

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Very few people are gifted with acting talent and given such a powerful platform to speak on issues affecting everyday people.

Daryl Hannah, who is 56 years old today, does both. Her activism over the years for the environment and natural resources of our planet have not only been remarkable but consistent.

Supporting over 15 charities throughout her decades-long acting career, it’s easy to see why she has earned such a name for herself in the Eco-activist community.

In the 2009 documentary, Welcome to Eden, we see Hannah fighting for the rights of inner-city Los Angelenos whose 14-acre urban farm in South Central was being taken by corporate land developers. When she wasn’t protesting by living in one of the trees on the farm land, she was speaking out and rallying the passionate farmers to keep their tiny farm. Every fight might not be monumental, but each one is important.

Several years later, in February of 2013, Daryl Hannah was arrested while protesting outside of the White House to block the Keystone XL pipeline. Alongside other celebrities, Eco-activists, and political officials Hannah was outspoken about her distrust of the Canada to Texas pipeline which was taking the land from private citizens through eminent domain.

“I was peacefully protesting the unwanted advances of Trans-Canada on Eleanor Fairchild's land,” Hannah told KTLV. “[Ms. Fairchild] has stated very clearly that she doesn't want them there and they insist on bullying her and taking away her land through eminent domain.”

Not only has she protested various unethical and not environmentally friendly policies, she started her own environmental news website dhlovelife.com which also offers tips and products for people trying to lead a green life. Instead of simply opposing negative developments in the Eco world she decided to provide positive push-back.

“I was trying to get off the grid and overhaul my lifestyle so it was more in harmony with my ethics—it was quite difficult to find reliable information and access to goods and services,” Hannah said in an interview with Mother Earth Living. “So I had the thought to create the portal I wished existed.”

Aside from her website Daryl Hannah also built her own green home and maintains her own home garden.

Happy Birthday to this activist who continues to use her limelight to peacefully protest and challenge the status quo in power. Keep rocking on Daryl Hannah!

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Considering most leading roles are played by men, having women play strong roles in films continues to be a highly relevant topic in the movie industry. Women are not only underrepresented as actresses, but also in the director's chair. Only around 8% of directors are women, however it is funny what happens when women are put in the director's chair: they seem to hire more women.

On this Women's Equality Day, we're putting the spotlight on both female directors and actors, who are not only exceptional at what they do, but also are raising their voices for women everywhere.

One of the first that comes to mind is the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director, Kathryn Bigelow, who directed the film The Hurt Locker, and is also known for the film Zero Dark Thirty. Bigelow said in a statement to TIME that she believes that directors should be judged only based on their work, not by their gender, which continue to stigmatize the industry. She emphasizes that “gender neutral hiring is essential”.

Talent is found all over the world, especially in the French director Claire Dennis and has produced such films as White Material and 35 Shots of Rum. She is often given the high praise of being the best French director alive.

Yet another woman breaking records is director of our own Red Roses and Petrol Tamar Simon Hoffs, became the first woman to receive the triple director/writer/producer credit on a major studio feature film, The All Nighter.

Not only is Mira Nair coming to play a center stage role in film as a director, but also take the cake in learning, hailing from the alma mater of Harvard. Most renowned for her award-winning documentary Saloam Bombay, and owns her own production company, Mirabai Films, which is based in New York.

A Tony Award-winning director, Julie Taymor, has been recognized for her work on Broadway in the production of the Lion King, becoming the first woman to win a Tony for a musical. She has also directed stirring films like Frida, showing that women can not only direct movies well, but also tell other women's stories well.

And it's not just directors, but actresses too, who are speaking out concerning women's rights and what it meant be a confident and modern woman.

Daryl Hannah, from the documentary Welcome to Eden, was listed by the Huffington Post as one of “5 Powerful Women Who Are Making a Positive Difference,” and is renowned for her contributions not only as an actress but also as an environmentalist and powerful voice against human trafficking, giving a voice to people and topics that perhaps would be often overlooked.

Salma Hayek's advice to young girls is simply to “Stand out, don't blend in,” and encourages women everywhere, “to really be profound thinkers that are excited about their differences and explore what they are and who they are and what can come out of the new.” Hayek has advanced such ideas in fundraising events for charities such as “Chime for Change”.

The currently highest-paid actress, Jennifer Lawrence, has spoken out against the gender pay gap, when she discovered that she had negotiated a smaller deal than her male counterparts in the hit movie American Hustle.

Lastly, we give you one of the most outspoken advocates in recent years for women's equality, British Harry Potter star Emma Watson. In conjunction with various organizations, she has built up quite a reputation for women's equality and feminism in general, encouraging men to come alongside women.

“I want men to take up this mantle.” Watson said. “So their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice, but also so that their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too — reclaim those parts of themselves they abandoned and in doing so be a more true and complete version of themselves.”

Happy Women's Equality Day!

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It looks like many celebrities are moving their talents to the streaming world, and many are appearing in Netflix original series. There’s Kevin Spacey in House of Cards, Will Arnett in BoJack Horseman, Ben Mendelsohn in Bloodlines, and now Daryl Hannah in Sense 8. The vibrant 54-year-old Daryl Hannah was seen on Wednesday, May 28th, attending the premiere of the Netflix series, Sense8 in San Francisco. Sense8 was created and written by Andy and Lana Wachowski, better known for The Matrix Trilogy, and Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski.

The American science fiction television series, Sense8, shows eight different people around the world who are suddenly linked mentally, and must find a way to survive being hunted by those who see them as a threat to the world's order. Daryl Hannah will be starring in three episodes of the twelve-episode series.

Hannah can also be seen in the documentary Welcome To Eden. The piece focuses on a South Central Los Angeles farm that was forced to close, and the farmers’ protest against eviction. Hannah, along with other celebrities such as Willie Nelson and Joan Baez were there to support the farm’s continued existence.

The series premiere of Sense8 begins June 5 with 12 episodes on Netflix, and Welcome To Eden is currently available on VOD/DVD.

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