Ashley Park to Receive Inaugural Marin Mazzie Award for Empowerment

Broadway.com is honored to exclusively announce that Mean Girls Tony nominee and cancer survivor Ashley Park has been selected as the first recipient of Cancer Support Community's Marin Mazzie Award for Empowerment. Park, who appeared alongside the late three-time Tony nominee Mazzie on Broadway in The King and I, will be presented with the award by Mazzie's husband, Pretty Woman star Jason Danieley, at a gala celebration set for April 16 in New York City. Mazzie passed away from ovarian cancer in September.

"When Marin joined the company of The King and I at Lincoln Center, it came at a time when things were looking up, her ovarian cancer was in remission and here she was leading another Broadway company as their leading lady," said Danieley. "She was keenly aware of the way 2015 with two major rounds of Healing Therapy (aka Chemo Therapy) and surgery for a full hysterectomy had impacted her life. She wanted to help the cancer community. Ashley Park's story, compassion and wild good sense of humor immediately endeared her to Marin—cut from a similar cloth. That and Ashley's quiet thoughtfulness, during their shared time together, immediately brought her to mind when Cancer Support Community asked me who should be the inaugural recipient of the Marin Mazzie Award for Empowerment. I am certain she will continue down the path of light and love as Marin would have herself."

"It is honor enough that I had the privilege of experiencing Marin's deep generosity, her vibrant humor, her passionate spirit and incomprehensible strength each performance during her triumphant return to the Broadway stage, her home, in The King and I," said Park. "As a longtime fan of Marin, I was profoundly in awe to be in her fierce embrace and glow each show. As a cancer survivor, I was immensely humbled and moved that I could be there for Marin as a support during that transitional chapter of her journey. Marin Mazzie has always been breathtaking. So when her dear Jason first asked if I'd accept the inaugural Marin Mazzie Award for Empowerment from the Cancer Support Community, I lost all ability to breathe and had no words. There aren't enough words to express how much this means to me. All I can say is that I will continue to be a champion of life, love and joyful spirit, like my friend Marin."

"Ashley Park's courage in sharing her cancer experience with the world has inspired hope for patients and families on a global scale," said Kim Thiboldeaux, CEO of the Cancer Support Community. "We are honored to recognize Ashley, who has such a strong relationship with Jason and had such fondness and admiration for Marin. For those of us who were fortunate to know Marin and experience her powerhouse talent and immeasurable strength, seeing Jason present this honor to Ashley will be both emotional and inspiring."

Previously called the Founders Award for Empowerment, Cancer Support Community renamed the award after Mazzie's passing to recognize a member of the entertainment sector who has used their platform to both advocate for and inspire people who are living with cancer and their loved ones. Mazzie and Danieley were presented with the award in 2016.

Past honorees also include Vice President Joe Biden, Emmy-winning journalist Joan Lunden, Sandra Lee of the Food Network, ESPN reporter Holly Rowe, baseball legend Ken Griffey Sr., Good Morning America's Robin Roberts and Today's Hoda Kotb.