GirlSite Vision Award honoree
Dina Merrill
The Story Project

Who is Dina Merrill
Dina Merrill, vice chairperson of RKO Pictures, LLC., has played a significant role throughout her career in Hollywood, both in front of and behind the camera. This internationally recognized woman has had an illustrious acting career and at the same time wins applause as a successful businesswoman —her knowledge and appreciation of the entertainment industry is an asset which she uses to her advantage in successfully bringing RKO into the next millennium.

Prior to her position at RKO, Dina Merrill was a founding partner of Greenroom Enterprises, an entertainment production company where she produced features and an award-winning, made-for-television movie, The Brass Ring, in which she also starred. In the late 1980s, Greenroom merged with Pavilion Communications and Merrill retained a managing position at Pavilion. Pavilion subsequently merged into RKO Pictures, LLC.

Dina Merrill's acting career includes starring in more than 25 feature films, including The Other Sister, The Player, True Colors, Operation Petticoat and Butterfield 8. She has also accumulated well over 100 television credits, starred on Broadway and in regional theater roles including drama, comedy and musicals.

In addition to Dina Merrill's responsibilities with RKO, she serves as a director of Lehman Brothers and is vice president of the New York City Mission Society. Merrill is a member of the Artists Committee at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Prior to her committee work there, she spent a decade as a Presidential-appointed trustee. Dina Merrill is also a trustee of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Foundation, a trustee of the Museum of Television and Radio and a board member of Orbis International, a flying eye hospital which teaches advanced eye care and surgical techniques worldwide. Furthermore, Dina Merrill serves as a board member of the Population Resource Council and the Republican Pro-Choice Alliance.

As a co-founder and a driving force behind the creation and endowment of the Foundation for International Film Artists, which funds the Hartley-Merrill Prize for Screenwriting, Merrill feels strongly about supporting talented writers in emerging economies with nascent film industries. This Foundation also endows the Story Project, which promotes literacy among inner city youth.

What's The Story Project
An after school literacy program that teams mentors from the entertainment business with at-risk youth.

The Story Project is dedicated to helping underprivileged youth develop their literacy skills. The Story Project helps youth find and express their inner voice through creative exercises such journal writing, photography, screening and film making.

For more information contact:
The Story Project
1875 Century Park East
Suite 2140
Los Angeles, CA 90067
Phone: 310-277-0707
Fax: 310-226-2490
E-mail: foundation@rko.com
www.storyproject.com