Wilson Cruz and Trace Lysette to Announce 29th Annual GLAAD Media Award Nominees Live during 2018 Sundance Film Festival

Park City, Utah – GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, today announced that for the first time ever, the nominees for the 29^th Annual GLAAD Media Awards will be announced via livestream from Park City, Utah at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival on Friday, January 19 at 10:30am ET. The announcement will be hosted by Star Trek: Discovery and 13 Reasons Why actor Wilson Cruz and Transparent actress Trace Lysette. The nominations will be live-streamed on Variety’s Facebook page, directly from the DIRECTV Lounge presented by AT&T in Park City.

To watch the livestream on Friday, January 19 at 10:30am ET/7:30am PT visit: https://www.facebook.com/Variety/

The GLAAD Media Awards honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBTQ community and the issues that affect their lives. The GLAAD Media Awards also fund GLAAD's work to accelerate acceptance of the LGBTQ community. The GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies will be held in Los Angeles on April 12, 2018 at The Beverly Hilton and in New York on May 5, 2018 at the New York Hilton Midtown.

“The GLAAD Media Award nominee announcement is one of the most exciting times of the year for the LGBTQ community and we are thrilled to be sharing the news live with audiences around the world,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD President and CEO. “At a time when LGBTQ visibility is decreasing and LGBTQ harassment is on the rise, this year’s nominees include images and stories that foster understanding and combat misconceptions – something sorely needed in our current cultural and political climate.”

Currently starring as Dr. Hugh Culber on CBS All Access’s Star Trek: Discovery, Wilson Cruz is a first-generation American of Puerto Rican descent and has always been a trailblazer, even in his youth, winning the hearts of audiences playing the character of ‘Rickie Vasquez’ on My So-Called Life. Cruz's critically acclaimed performance became a cornerstone for years to come, exemplifying true courage and strength playing the first openly gay teenager to air on network primetime television and living out his own personal journey with it as well. The show won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Drama with Wilson being honored with the Emery S. Hetrick Award from the Hetrick-Martin Institute for Outstanding Contributions to LGBTQ Youth. In the line of memorable and poignant characters on television, he also played one of TV’s first transgender characters in an Emmy nominated episode of Ally McBeal. On the frontlines of LGBTQ advocacy, Wilson Cruz took a two year break from acting to serve in a leadership position as the Director of Entertainment Industry Partnerships and as National Spokesperson for GLAAD.

Trace Lysette is an actress and advocate best known for her recurring role as 'Shea' on Amazon's critically-acclaimed series Transparent. She can also be seen in a recurring role as 'Gisele' opposite Patrick Stewart in the Starz original comedy Blunt Talk. She portrayed trans icon Sylvia Rivera in a critically acclaimed episode of Comedy Central’s Drunk History that received a GLAAD Media Awards nomination last year. Lysette is committed to advocating for trans and marginalized people from all walks of life and aspires to make Hollywood more inclusive and more accurately mirror the world we live in.

GLAAD will be supporting LGBTQ-inclusive films in Park City, Utah throughout the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and will co-host the premiere of Believer, a documentary that follows Imagine Dragons frontman Daniel Reynolds as he examines how the Mormon Church treats its LGBTQ members and works to spread love and understanding. For more on LGBTQ-inclusive films at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, visit: /blog/check-out-lgbtq-inclusive-programming-coming-sundance-2018