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Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Gary Sinise Opens Up About Leaving Hollywood and Losing His Son to Cancer: 'I Just Want to Be Around Family' (Exclusive)
Forrest Gump and CSI: NY actor Gary Sinise paused his acting career in 2019 after his wife and son were diagnosed with cancer His wife Moira survived breast cancer, but their son Mac died in January 2024 from a rare bone cancer Sinise, who moved to Tennessee in 2023, opens up to PEOPLE about grieving, and how he's remembering Mac by releasing music his son composed Gary Sinise is standing in a bright green grove outside his rural Nashville-area home, grinning as he talks about the starring role that's become his favorite: 'Papa' to his five grandchildren, ages 1 to 8. 'It's just the most wonderful thing,' the actor says. Earlier in the day, Sinise, 70, handled the school run, but it's not uncommon to spot the Oscar-nominated actor hanging out with the grandkids at Chuck E. Cheese or a local trampoline park. 'He spoils them rotten,' says Sinise's daughter Sophie, 36, of her and her sister Ella's children, who always find two things at Papa's house: ice cream ('They know they'll get fed a lot of it when they come,' he admits) and hugs. 'Being able to love on them and love on our daughters, that's helped me a lot.' That love kept him afloat after he walked away from his Hollywood career in 2019 to care for his son Mac when he was diagnosed with bone cancer. In the year since losing Mac, who died in January 2024 at 33, the actor has found comfort in his close-knit family and his Tennessee home, and a new purpose in keeping Mac's memory alive. 'Mac left us things that are beautiful,' says Sinise. 'I want people to know who he was.' An actor in demand since starring in Forrest Gump and Apollo 13 in the early '90s (he's appeared in more than 50 feature films and TV shows, including all nine seasons of CSI: NY), Sinise saw his world turn upside down in the summer of 2018. That's when his wife of nearly 44 years, Moira, 71, whom he met when he co-founded Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company and the two were aspiring actors, was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. And just as the couple were navigating her care, they learned that Mac, then 27, the second of their three kids, had a tumor on his lower backbone. 'It looked like a monster grabbing my son's spine,' Sinise recalls of the MRI scan showing Mac had a bone cancer known as chordoma, which affects only 300 people in the U.S. per year. Suddenly, the actor was grappling with how to help them both: 'It was a one-two punch.' After eight chemo treatments and 35 radiation treatments, Moira was declared cancer-free, but Mac's condition worsened. Doctors removed his tumor, but he was among the minority of chordoma patients whose cancer returns. During breaks on-set while shooting films and the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, Sinise called doctors and researched the disease. 'Dad dove into the storm,' says his daughter Ella, 32. 'Whatever's going on in his life, he goes full on. He did amazing, but it was hard to watch because it was traumatizing. It's really a testimony to his character — he doesn't let adversity slow him down." In 2020, Mac was in the hospital for six of the first eight months of the year. 'That's when I stopped acting,' Sinise says. 'I started putting everything I had into trying to find a miracle for Mac.' He became his son's 'air traffic controller': 'I didn't want Mac to be thinking of the next treatment or to worry. So I thought about cancer all the time. You're trying to take the pain away. A few times I felt like I couldn't do enough, or I didn't know what to do. Then you say a little prayer, get back up and go back into the fight.' Sinise has seen other families go through similar battles through his work supporting veterans and first responders and their families through the Gary Sinise Foundation, which he established in 2011: 'I've wrapped my arms around lots of kids who have lost a mom or a dad. I've been around people that have persevered through difficult things. It's given me strength. There's no question God prepared me well for dealing with our loss.' Even after tumors paralyzed Mac from the chest down and restricted the full use of his arms, the family leaned on their deep Catholic faith and didn't lose hope. 'Hope keeps you in the fight,' Sinise says. 'You could see tumors on his body. You knew the drugs weren't working. But I wasn't thinking we were going to lose him.' Moira, whose mobility is also limited due to chronic back issues, encouraged Mac, a musician and composer who'd graduated from the University of Southern California music school, to teach himself harmonica, one of the few instruments he could still play. Mac, who worked at the foundation writing music for promotional videos, had been a drummer since Sinise bought him a starter drum set when he was nine, sometimes sitting in with Sinise's Lt. Dan Band (named for Sinise's Forrest Gump role as a wounded Vietman vet). With the harmonica, Mac learned to play the folk tune "Oh Shenandoah." And, says his sister Sophie: 'As his body grew weaker and weaker, his faith grew stronger. He carried on in his body and his soul and his spirit with so much bravery and strength." In 2023, Mac reconnected with a USC friend, composer Oliver Schnee, who helped him revive and arrange some of his long-dormant compositions. By Mac's 33rd birthday in November, Gary's foundation and family had moved from L.A. to Tennessee—attractive because of its proximity to military bases and lower cost of living (with no acting income, 'I wanted to spend less,' Sinise says). Mac spent his birthday recording his music in Nashville for an album, which became Resurrection & Revival. But the next month, on Dec. 30, he was back in the hospital, a St. Augustine prayer book at his side. Mac died Jan. 5, 2024, surrounded by family. 'He kept wanting to stay. He didn't want to go. But I know Mac was at peace at the end. He dealt with it with grace and courage,' Sinise says. A tragedy like that 'can destroy you or it can make you come together. We pulled together quite a lot," Sinise says. Sophie says her parents grew even closer. "She's my dad's number one supporter,' Sophie says of their mom, Moira. 'And she was Mac's prayer warrior.' In the months after Mac's death, Sinise found more music on his laptop and recruited friends to record a second album. Sinise released both, with proceeds from Resurrection & Revival: Parts 1 and 2 going toward the Gary Sinise Foundation, which was Mac's request. Sinise hopes to one day see the albums performed by a live orchestra. And he's got his sights on animating another of Mac's compositions. 'I want people to hear his music. I want people to share it. I'm on a mission.' He knows it's his way of coping with grief: 'I thought the other day, 'What happens when all these projects are done?' Well, I'm going to drag them on as long as I can.' As for acting, Sinise isn't sure when — or if — he'll make a return. 'Something may come along and it'll be right, but it's harder to leave home now,' he says. 'I just want to be around family. Since losing Mac, I hold my daughters a lot tighter. You think about the things that are really important.' Read the original article on People
Chicago Tribune
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Steppenwolf Theatre play ‘Purpose' wins the Pulitzer Prize for drama
'Purpose,' a play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins that was commissioned by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company, has won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for drama, the Pulitzer board announced Monday. The fictional work debuted in Chicago in 2024 and moved earlier this year from Steppenwolf to Broadway, where it currently plays with most of its original Chicago cast. Directed in New York and Chicago by Phylicia Rashad, it's loosely based on the family of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson. This marks the first time a play first seen at Steppenwolf has won the prestigious prize since Tracy Letts' 'August: Osage County' in 2008. In a joint statement to the Tribune, Steppenwolf artistic directors Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis said that the 'Purpose' win 'underscores our company's time-honored commitment to developing ensemble-driven, new works.' The play was also nominated for a Tony Award last week, along with several members of its cast. The 2025 winners of the Pulitzer Prizes, presented annually by Columbia University, include nine winners across eight arts categories for books, drama and music. Awards for journalism were also announced Monday. 'James,' by the novelist Percival Everett, won for fiction. The book, which previously won the Kirkus Prize and a National Book Award and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, used Mark Twain's 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' as its starting point, reworking the story from the perspective of Jim, now James, Twain's escaped slave. It was a risky kind of bestseller from a longtime author and professor of English at the University of Southern California, whose previous breakthrough 2001 novel 'Erasure' was later adapted as the Oscar-nominated movie 'American Fiction.' Critics felt Everett more than lived up to his source, both honoring Twain and deepening the 1885 original. Everett told the Tribune last year, 'I think people assume because I am revisiting Twain, I am correcting. I love Twain's novel. It doesn't arise from dissatisfaction. if anything, I am flattering myself thinking I am in conversation with Twain.' Chris Jones is a Tribune critic. Tribune writer Christopher Borrelli contributed to this report. 2025 Pulitzer Prize winners in the arts FICTION: 'James' by Percival Everett (Doubleday) DRAMA: 'Purpose' by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins HISTORY: 'Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War' by Edda L. Fields-Black (Oxford University Press) 'Native Nations: A Millennium in North America' by Kathleen DuVal (Random House) BIOGRAPHY: 'John Lewis: A Life' by David Greenberg (Simon & Schuster) MEMOIR: 'Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir, by Tessa Hulls (MCD) POETRY: 'New and Selected Poems' by Marie Howe (W.W. Norton & Company) GENERAL NONFICTION: 'To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement' by Benjamin Nathans (Princeton University Press)
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Tribune's Quotes of the Week quiz for May 3
Hello, quotes readers. Did you miss us? Well, it's May and you know what that means … May Day! Thousands rallied downtown on Thursday to commemorate the annual celebration with Chicago roots. Organized labor and activist groups marched from Union Park to Grant Park, calling for workers' rights and fair wages and protesting President Donald Trump's policies targeting immigrants, federal employees and workplace diversity programs. The president, meanwhile, marked his first 100 days in office this week and released his 2026 budget plan, which would slash most domestic spending while increasing expenditures on national security. Bringing to an end an almost five-year ordeal, the Chicago Park District announced Thursday they reached a deal to end a lawsuit brought over the removal of Christopher Columbus statues from city parks during the 2020 protests. In the burgeoning race for Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin's seat, Sen. Tammy Duckworth endorsed Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, giving her backing from two of the state's highest-ranking Democrats. Plus, in an appearance on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' Thursday night, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said he has not made up his mind about a third term and demurred on a 2028 presidential run. Downstate, three children and a teenager were killed and several others injured Monday afternoon when a vehicle plowed through an after-school facility just outside Springfield. A Plainfield landlord was sentenced to 53 years in prison Friday for the murder of 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and the attempted murder of the boy's mother in October 2023, an attack a jury found to be a hate crime spurred by the war in Gaza. And former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, the one-term leader who halted the state's death penalty before being imprisoned on federal corruption charges, died Friday in hospice in his hometown of Kankakee. He was 91. During Wednesday night's game between the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park, a fan fell from the 21-foot-high Clemente Wall in right field. The man remains in critical condition. In other news, the 2025 Tony Award nominations were announced Thursday, including several nods for Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Portillo's is giving away free sandwiches in May and a local science teacher was named Illinois Teacher of the Year. Without further ado: the Tribune's Quotes of the Week quiz for the week of April 27 to May 3. Good luck! Looking for more quotes? Check out our past editions of Quotes of the Week.
Chicago Tribune
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
The Tribune's Quotes of the Week quiz for May 3
Hello, quotes readers. Did you miss us? Well, it's May and you know what that means … May Day! Thousands rallied downtown on Thursday to commemorate the annual celebration with Chicago roots. Organized labor and activist groups marched from Union Park to Grant Park, calling for workers' rights and fair wages and protesting President Donald Trump's policies targeting immigrants, federal employees and workplace diversity programs. The president, meanwhile, marked his first 100 days in office this week and released his 2026 budget plan, which would slash most domestic spending while increasing expenditures on national security. Bringing to an end an almost five-year ordeal, the Chicago Park District announced Thursday they reached a deal to end a lawsuit brought over the removal of Christopher Columbus statues from city parks during the 2020 protests. In the burgeoning race for Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin's seat, Sen. Tammy Duckworth endorsed Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, giving her backing from two of the state's highest-ranking Democrats. Plus, in an appearance on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' Thursday night, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said he has not made up his mind about a third term and demurred on a 2028 presidential run. Downstate, three children and a teenager were killed and several others injured Monday afternoon when a vehicle plowed through an after-school facility just outside Springfield. A Plainfield landlord was sentenced to 53 years in prison Friday for the murder of 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and the attempted murder of the boy's mother in October 2023, an attack a jury found to be a hate crime spurred by the war in Gaza. And former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, the one-term leader who halted the state's death penalty before being imprisoned on federal corruption charges, died Friday in hospice in his hometown of Kankakee. He was 91. During Wednesday night's game between the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park, a fan fell from the 21-foot-high Clemente Wall in right field. The man remains in critical condition. In other news, the 2025 Tony Award nominations were announced Thursday, including several nods for Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Portillo's is giving away free sandwiches in May and a local science teacher was named Illinois Teacher of the Year.
Chicago Tribune
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
2025 Tony Award nominations: Steppenwolf's ‘Purpose' and ‘Death Becomes Her' both score big
Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company woke up Thursday morning to boffo Tony Award news as plaudits landed on its world premiere production of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' drama, 'Purpose,' a bold play very loosely based on the family of political activist Jesse Jackson Jr. and now playing on Broadway. 'Purpose' scored a Tony nomination in the category of best play. Nominations for ensemble members from 'Purpose' include Jon Michael Hill in the best actor in a play category and Steppenwolf artistic director Glenn Davis for best featured actor in a play. Other nominees from the Broadway production, by lead producer David Stone, include LaTanya Richardson Jackson for best actress in a play, Harry Lennix for best actor in a play and Kara Young for best featured actress in a play. The longtime Chicago director David Cromer was nominated for his work on the musical 'Dead Outlaw.' Chicago lighting designer Heather Gilbert, a frequent Cromer collaborator, was nominated (with David Bengali) for her work on Cromer's production of 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' and former Steppenwolf artistic director Anna D. Shapiro's Broadway production of 'Eureka Day' was nominated in the category of best revival of a play. Screen actor George Clooney was nominated for leading actor for 'Good Night, and Good Luck.' 'Death Becomes Her,' a musical that tried out in Chicago, scored a formidable 10 nominations, including an all-important nod for best musical, as well as nominations for both of its stars, Jennifer Simard and Megan Hilty. 'Boop! the Musical,' which also began in Chicago, missed out on the best musical category but saw Tony nominations for star Jasmine Amy Rogers, choreographer Jerry Mitchell and costume designer Gregg Barnes. And yet another Chicago tryout, 'A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical,' earned a Tony nomination for its star, James Monroe Iglehart. Three Broadway shows stood out in the list of nominations — 'Buena Vista Social Club,' 'Death Becomes Her' and 'Maybe Happy Ending,' each earning 10 nominations Thursday. Some 29 shows were recognized across 26 categories. The 2025 Tony Awards will be presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League in a ceremony at 7 p.m. June 8 at Radio City Music Hall in New York, hosted by 'Wicked' star Cynthia Erivo and broadcast on CBS and streamed on Paramount+. Chris Jones is a Tribune critic. Nominations in the top categories for the 78th annual Tony Awards. BEST MUSICAL 'Buena Vista Social Club' 'Dead Outlaw' 'Death Becomes Her' 'Maybe Happy Ending' 'Operation Mincemeat' BEST PLAY 'English' 'The Hills of California' 'John Proctor Is the Villain' 'Oh, Mary!' 'Purpose' BEST LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY Laura Donnelly, 'The Hills of California' Mia Farrow, 'The Roommate' LaTanya Richardson Jackson, 'Purpose' Sadie Sink, 'John Proctor Is the Villain' Sarah Snook, 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' BEST LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY George Clooney, 'Good Night, and Good Luck' Cole Escola, 'Oh, Mary!' Jon Michael Hill, 'Purpose' Daniel Dae Kim, 'Yellow Face' Harry Lennix, 'Purpose' Louis McCartney, 'Stranger Things: The First Shadow' BEST LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL Jasmine Amy Rogers, 'Boop! The Musical' Megan Hilty, 'Death Becomes Her' Audra McDonald, 'Gypsy' Nicole Scherzinger, 'Sunset Boulevard' Jennifer Simard, 'Death Becomes Her' BEST LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL Darren Criss, 'Maybe Happy Ending' Andrew Durand, 'Dead Outlaw' Tom Francis, 'Sunset Boulevard' Jonathan Groff, 'Just in Time' Jeremy Jordan, 'Floyd Collins' James Monroe Iglehart, 'A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical' BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL Saheem Ali, 'Buena Vista Social Club' Michael Arden, 'Maybe Happy Ending' David Cromer, 'Dead Outlaw' Christopher Gattelli, 'Death Becomes Her' Jamie Lloyd, 'Sunset Boulevard' BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY Knud Adams, 'English' Sam Mendes, 'The Hills of California' Sam Pinkleton, 'Oh, Mary!' Danya Taymor, 'John Proctor Is the Villain' Kip Williams, 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY Tala Ashe, 'English' Jessica Hecht, 'Eureka Day' Marjan Neshat, 'English' Fina Strazza, 'John Proctor Is the Villain' Kara Young, 'Purpose' BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY Glenn Davis, 'Purpose' Gabriel Ebert, 'John Proctor Is the Villain' Francis Jue, 'Yellow Face' Bob Odenkirk, 'Glengarry Glen Ross' Conrad Ricamora, 'Oh, Mary!' BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL Natalie Venetia Belcon, 'Buena Vista Social Club' Julia Knitel, 'Dead Outlaw' Gracie Lawrence, 'Just in Time' Justina Machado, 'Real Women Have Curves' Joy Woods, 'Gypsy' BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL Brooks Ashmanskas, 'Smash' Jeb Brown, 'Dead Outlaw' Danny Burstein, 'Gypsy' Jak Malone, 'Operation Mincemeat' Taylor Trensch, 'Floyd Collins' BEST PLAY REVIVAL 'Eureka Day' 'Our Town' 'Romeo + Juliet' 'Yellow Face' BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL 'Floyd Collins' 'Gypsy' 'Pirates! The Penzance Musical' 'Sunset Boulevard' BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL 'Buena Vista Social Club' 'Dead Outlaw' 'Death Becomes Her' 'Maybe Happy Ending' 'Operation Mincemeat' Originally Published: May 1, 2025 at 9:48 AM CDT
