{"id":6660,"date":"2026-05-04T11:26:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T11:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/national-memorial-day-concert\/?post_type=performer&#038;p=6660"},"modified":"2026-05-04T11:26:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T11:26:27","slug":"gary-sinise","status":"publish","type":"performer","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/national-memorial-day-concert\/performer\/gary-sinise\/","title":{"rendered":"Gary Sinise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cWhile we can never do enough to show gratitude to our nation&#8217;s defenders, veterans, first responders, and the families that serve alongside them, we can always do a little more.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; Gary Sinise<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gary Sinise\u2019s distinguished career in film, television, theater&nbsp;and philanthropy&nbsp;spans&nbsp;across&nbsp;five decades, marked by a deep commitment to storytelling, service, and purpose.&nbsp;His journey began in 1974 when&nbsp;at just 18 years old, he co-founded Chicago\u2019s Steppenwolf Theatre Company,&nbsp;which has become&nbsp;recognized as one of the premier theater companies in the world.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sinise&nbsp;is best known for his&nbsp;iconic portrayal of&nbsp;wounded Vietnam War veteran&nbsp;Lt. Dan Taylor in&nbsp;the award-winning film&nbsp;<em>Forrest Gump<\/em>&nbsp;that&nbsp;brought him widespread acclaim&nbsp;and deepened his connections within the military community. Sinise&nbsp;earned&nbsp;Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild nominations&nbsp;and was recognized with the&nbsp;National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor. His extensive film credits include&nbsp;<em>Apollo 13<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>Ransom<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>The Green Mile<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>Of Mice and Men,<\/em>&nbsp;<em>Mission to Mars<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>The Human Stain<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>I Still Believe<\/em>, and&nbsp;<em>Joe Bell<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On television,&nbsp;for&nbsp;nine&nbsp;seasons Sinise starred&nbsp;as Detective Mac Taylor on&nbsp;<em>CSI: NY<\/em>,&nbsp;symbolizing his support, affinity, and appreciation for first responders.&nbsp;Recent&nbsp;television work also includes&nbsp;<em>Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders<\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;the Netflix series&nbsp;<em>13 Reasons Why<\/em>.&nbsp;With multiple award nominations to his credit, Sinise&nbsp;is an Emmy, Golden Globe, and two-time Screen Actors Guild Award winner for his performances in&nbsp;<em>Truman<\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>George Wallace<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more than 40 years, Sinise has been a dedicated advocate for America\u2019s service members, veterans, and their families.\u00a0Inspired by his own family of service from WWI through\u00a0Afghanistan, Sinise\u2019s support began in the early 1980s, working with Vietnam veterans in his local Chicago area,\u00a0before the role of a lifetime with\u00a0Lt. Dan would cement Gary\u2019s legacy as\u00a0an advocate\u00a0for those who have courageously served our country. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, his commitment grew into a lifelong mission of service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2011, Sinise founded the Gary Sinise Foundation, with a mission to serve our country by honoring our nation\u2019s defenders, veterans, first responders, their families, and those in need.&nbsp;The Foundation provides critical support&nbsp;including&nbsp;building&nbsp;specially adapted&nbsp;mortgage freesmart homes for&nbsp;our nation\u2019s most&nbsp;severely wounded heroes,&nbsp;providing&nbsp;equipment&nbsp;grants to fire and police departments around the country,&nbsp;educating the next generation&nbsp;through&nbsp;trips to the&nbsp;National WWII Museum, National Medal of Honor Museum,&nbsp;Flight 93 Memorial, 9\/11 Memorial and Museum and the&nbsp;Pentagon, supporting the families of our fallen through community programming,&nbsp;hosting free concerts with Gary Sinise &amp; the Lt. Dan Band&nbsp;which for nearly 25 years has been&nbsp;uplifting&nbsp;our veterans, first responders,&nbsp;families of our fallen heroes&nbsp;and much more.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In recognition of his humanitarian work, Sinise has received numerous distinguished honors, including the Presidential Citizens Medal, the Spirit of Hope Award from the Department of Defense, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and the Sylvanus Thayer&nbsp;Award&nbsp;from the West Point Association of Graduates.&nbsp;He has also been named&nbsp;an Honorary Marine, an Honorary Chief Petty Officer of the U.S. Navy, and an honorary Battalion Chief from the Fire Department of New York.&nbsp;Sinise is&nbsp;also&nbsp;involved with organizations,&nbsp;including the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2019, his autobiography,&nbsp;<em>Grateful American: A Journey from Self to Service<\/em>, became a New York Times bestseller, sharing the story of his personal transformation and lifelong commitment to serving others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u200bSinise recently&nbsp;produced&nbsp;<em>Resurrection &amp; Revival Parts 2 and 3<\/em>, continuing to bring to life the music of his late son, Mac Sinise\u2014projects that honor Mac\u2019s creativity&nbsp;and their shared passion for supporting our nation\u2019s heroes through the&nbsp;mission of the Gary Sinise Foundation.&nbsp;Mac had finished recording&nbsp;his first album&nbsp;<em>Resurrection &amp; Revival<\/em>&nbsp;prior to his passing in January 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His upcoming book,\u00a0<em>Graceful Warrior: The True Story of a Son, a Father and a Family Who Carried Each Other Through\u00a0<\/em>honors\u00a0Mac and his\u00a0own\u00a0family\u2019s journey of healing, which\u00a0will be released on November 10, 2026. Gary Sinise\u2019s enduring legacy is one of gratitude, service, and action\u2014continuing to inspire a nation to come together in support of those who serve,\u00a0sacrifice\u00a0and defend our\u00a0freedoms.\u00a0For more information, visit\u00a0www.garysinisefoundation.org.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWhile we can never do enough to show gratitude to our nation&#8217;s defenders, veterans, first responders, and the families that serve alongside them, we can always do a little more.\u201d&nbsp; &#8211; Gary Sinise Gary Sinise\u2019s distinguished career in film, television, theater&nbsp;and philanthropy&nbsp;spans&nbsp;across&nbsp;five decades, marked by a deep commitment to storytelling, service, and purpose.&nbsp;His journey began [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1497,"template":"","class_list":["post-6660","performer","type-performer","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - 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