Dakota Johnson, Regina Hall and Chase Infiniti presented $1 million in college scholarships to high school students from underserved communities across Los Angeles on Wednesday.
The announcement was made at The Hollywood Reporter’s 2025 Women in Entertainment breakfast gala, presented by Lifetime, at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The event coincides with the release of The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment issue, which includes this year’s list of the most powerful female executives and talent in entertainment.
Materialists and Fifty Shades of Grey actress Johnson kicked off the scholarship’s presentation, which saw more than $1 million in scholarships handed out to participants in THR’s mentorship program, a joint venture with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles and a fiscally sponsored fund of the Entertainment Industry Foundation.
“Sixteen years ago, Stephen Galloway — now the dean of Chapman University’s Dodge College — launched this program while serving as THR’s executive editor,” Johnson said. “With guidance from Sherry Lansing and support from Big Brothers Big Sisters, he and the THR staff walked into high schools across South and East L.A. where they found diamonds in the rough who were overcoming obstacles like crime, drug and alcohol abuse in the family, or the challenges of being a first generation American to become the first in their families to graduate high school and the first to go to college. And now they are reshaping our industry.”
She then introduced an emotional mentorship program video, which highlighted this year’s girls. At the end, the room erupted in applause and cheers in celebration of the mentees.
After, Hall quipped, “You know, we wanted to see that too,” as the trio couldn’t see the video from the stage. She then revealed that Lifetime is giving every girl graduating from the program a $10,000 scholarship of their choice.
“This program would not be possible without the enormous support of our program partners including the Golden Globe Foundation and Gersh. WME is generously contributing $75,000 to support the essential operational expenses of the mentorship program,” Hall shared.
Before announcing the recipients of the scholarships, Hall revealed that Danny Garcia and Seven Bucks Productions are giving every new girl in the mentorship program a brand-new Apple MacBook Air, drawing more applause from the audience. Infiniti also shared that graduating mentees starting college next fall will also receive an Apple MacBook Air, thanks to the Wasserman Foundation.
Later, the first scholarship of the morning was presented by Johnson, which was for Chapman University and generously provided by The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation. Elisa was the recipient.
Hall revealed the recipient of the second scholarship from The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation to Loyola Marymount University, which ultimately went to Leah. Infiniti then announced the final scholarship of the morning to Chapman University. It went to Luna.
More than 275 students have taken part in the Women in Entertainment program, with the mentees going on to attend universities including Harvard, UC Berkeley and Northwestern, supported by more than $15 million that THR has raised in scholarships over the past 16 years.
Rachel Sennott served as the host of Wednesday’s breakfast alongside additional speakers of Sarah Paulson, Goldie Hawn, Jimmy Kimmel and Molly McNearney. Jennifer Lopez received the Equity in Entertainment Award, presented to her by Kerry Washington, and Gwyneth Paltrow received the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award.
THR’s Women in Entertainment was presented by Lifetime, and the gala was sponsored by Delta Air Lines, Medicube, Reyka Vodka and Seven Bucks Productions, and in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles, Entertainment Industry Foundation, Gersh, Chapman University and Loyola Marymount University.
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