page_title: Pierce Brosnan
section_title: Environmental and charitable work
hierarchical_section_title: Pierce Brosnan / Career / Environmental and charitable work
caption_attribution_description: Pierce Brosnan at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival
context_page_description: Pierce Brosnan OBE is an Irish actor, film producer, activist, and environmentalist. He became known for playing James Bond in GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, and Die Another Day. After leaving comprehensive school at age 16, Brosnan began C-training in commercial illustration, then went on to train at the Drama Centre in London for three years. Following a stage acting career he rose to popularity in the television series Remington Steele, which blended the genres of romantic comedy, drama, and detective procedural. After the conclusion of Remington Steele, Brosnan appeared in films such as the Cold War spy film The Fourth Protocol and the comedy Mrs. Doubtfire
  During this period, he also took the lead in other films including the epic disaster adventure film Dante's Peak and the remake of the heist film The Thomas Crown Affair. Since leaving the role of Bond, he has starred in such films as the musical/romantic comedy Mamma Mia!, the Roman Polanski-directed political thriller The Ghost Writer and the action spy thriller The November Man.
  In 1996, along with Beau St. Clair, Brosnan formed Irish DreamTime, a Los Angeles-based production company.
context_section_description: Brosnan has been an Ambassador for UNICEF Ireland since 2001 and recorded a special announcement to mark the launch of UNICEF's "Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS" Campaign with Liam Neeson. Brosnan supported John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election and is a vocal supporter of same-sex marriage.
  Brosnan first became aware of the nuclear arms race in 1962, at the age of nine, when worldwide condemnation of U.S. nuclear testing in Nevada made international headlines. During the 1990s, he participated in news conferences in Washington, D.C. to help Greenpeace draw attention to the campaign to bring an end to nuclear testing with a Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.  Brosnan boycotted the French premiere of GoldenEye in support of Greenpeace's protest against the French nuclear testing program.
  From 1997 to 2000, Brosnan and wife Smith worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to stop a proposed salt factory from being built at Laguna San Ignacio. The couple with Halle Berry, Cindy Crawford and Daryl Hannah successfully fought the Cabrillo Port Liquefied Natural Gas facility that was proposed off the coast of Malibu; the State Lands Commission eventually denied the lease to build the terminal. In May 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the facility.
  In May 2007, Brosnan and Smith donated $100,000 to help replace a playground on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, where they own a house. On 7 July 2007, Brosnan presented a film at Live Earth in London; he also recorded a television advertisement for the cause.
  Brosnan is also listed as a member of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's Board of Advisors. In 2004, he was named 'Best-dressed Environmentalist' by the Sustainable Style Foundation.
  Brosnan also raises money for charitable causes through sales of his paintings. After Brosnan left school, he pursued a career in art and began working as an illustrator. "I always wanted to be an artist, a painter. I started as a Trainee Artist in a small studio in South London." A colleague suggested that Pierce attend a theatre workshop, and eventually he abandoned his artwork to pursue a career in acting. Brosnan took up painting again in the late 1980s during his first wife's illness as he found it therapeutic. "Sometimes dramatic moments affect the way you see yourself in the world…from a very hard time in my life, I started painting again and out came every color I could imagine." Citing his influences as Picasso, Matisse, Bonnard and Kandinsky, Brosnan spends much of his free time between film shoots in front of his easel. "I am self taught, an enthusiastic painter as a friend of mine likes to say." He has continued painting since then, using spare time on set and at home. Profits from sales of giclée prints of his works are given to a trust to benefit "environmental, children's and women's health charities." Since Harris' death, Brosnan has been an advocate for cancer awareness and, in 2006, he served as spokesperson for Lee National Denim Day, a breast cancer fundraiser which raises millions of dollars and raises more money in a single day than any other breast cancer fundraiser.
caption: Pierce Brosnan at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2005
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