The Public-Private Alliance Foundation welcomes two great supporters to its November 4 Benefit. To attend the Benefit, meet and network, view great Haitian art, and to contribute to the Foundation, see the Blog article of October 22, below.
Tony Plana

- Tony Plana (in Ugly Betty)
Noted actor Tony Plana recently starred as Ignacio Suarez, the widowed father to America Ferrera’s Ugly Betty, in ABC’s hit series. He starred previously in Showtime’s original series, Resurrection Boulevard, and was nominated for two Alma Awards for best actor. He has also guest starred on Royal Pains.
Plana has starred in more than 70 feature films, including JFK, Nixon, Salvador, An Officer and a Gentleman, Lone Star, Three Amigos, Born in East L.A., El Norte, 187, Primal Fear, Romero, One Good Cop, Havana, The Rookie, Silver Strand and Picking Up the Pieces with Woody Allen. He recently appeared Half Past Dead with Steven Segal, Morris Chestnut, and JaRul; The Lost City, with Andy Garcia, Bill Murray, and Dustin Hoffman; and Disney’s highly acclaimed GOAL, The Dream Begins!;in El Muerto starring Wilbur Valderama, Justified, Towards Darkness, and AmericanEast with Tony Shaloub.
On television he recently starred in the Showtime Original Miniseries, Fidel, as the notorious Cuban dictator, Batista, as well as Showtime’s Noriega: God’s Favorite. He has portrayed leading roles in Veronica Claire for Lifetime, Bakersfield P.D. for FOX and Steven Bocco’s Total Security and City of Angels for ABC. He has also appeared in several Emmy award winning programs such as Sweet Fifteen, Drug Wars: The Camarena Story, The Burning Season: The Life and Death of Chico Mendes and a special episode of L.A. Law. Mr. Plana has portrayed recurring roles on NBC’s The West Wing as the U.S. Secretary of State, FOX’S 24, CSI, Monk, Almost Perfect, and The Closer for TNT.
Plana has been very active in live theatre. On Broadway, his credits include Zoot Suit and The Boys of Winter, and a wide variety of productions in many other venues.
He is the recipient of many awards for outstanding work in film, television and theater.
Plana celebrated his solo directorial debut in December 2000 with The Princess and the Barrio Boy, which won the 2001 Imagen Award for Best Made for Television Movie. He also has directed several episodes of Nickelodeon’s hit series, The Brothers Garcia, and the season finale of Greetings from Tucson for the Warner Brothers Network.
Plana is also the co-founder and executive artistic director of the East L.A. Classic Theatre, a group comprised primarily of Hispanic American theatre professionals. The Theatre has served the Latino community through educational outreach programs to primary and secondary schools and through bi-lingual education.
Plana earned a Bachelor’s degree in literature and theatre arts at Loyola-Marymount University, Los Angeles, graduating magna cum laude. He received professional training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England. He is married to actress, Ada Maris and is the proud father of Alejandro and Isabel. For more, see: www.tonyplana.com
Ian Williams

Ian Williams
Born in Liverpool, England, now resident in New York, Ian has written for newspapers and magazines around the world, ranging from the Australian to The Independent, from the New York Observer and the Village Voice to the Financial Times. His books are THE ALMS TRADE: Charities, Past, Present and Future and Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776. Williams will have copies of Rum available for sale and signing at the Foundation’s fundraiser, and will donate $10 per book sold to the Foundation.
Williams is the UN correspondent for Tribune, and senior analyst for Foreign Policy in Focus. He was earlier president of the UN Correspondents Association.
He has pundited on BBC, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, CBC and innumerable radio stations, and has appeared on Hard Ball, the O’Reilly Factor, and Wolf Blitzer. Online he writes for Salon, AlterNet and MaximsNews, among many others. He appears in Comment is Free on Guardian Unlimited. His blog appears at: http://deadlinepundit.blogspot.com/