Nicole Kidman helped raise millions of dollars for charity on Friday when she attended the annual Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund Charity Day in New York City, an event held to mark the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
The 59-year-old Australian actress was among a string of Hollywood stars who took part, working the phones on the trading floor at BGC Group to chat with clients and investors and help close multimillion-dollar deals for the fundraiser.
Kidman wore a brown suit with a pinstripe shirt for the occasion, opting for a toned-down makeup look and styling her blonde hair in a loose wave as she mingled with attendees on the trading floor.
What Charity Day commemorates
The annual event honours the 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees who died when the World Trade Center was attacked on September 11, 2001. Each year, the financial services firm donates all of its trading revenues from Charity Day to the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund.
In a statement, the company said it had expanded its mission over the years to create a lasting legacy for those it lost. It said celebrity ambassadors join its trading floors each year to represent charities that matter to its families, employees, clients and communities, as a way of paying forward the kindness shown to the firm in the aftermath of 9/11. The company added that past ambassadors have included prominent actors, musicians, sports icons, models, media personalities, royalty and politicians.
Kidman was joined in New York by a lineup of other famous faces, including Alix Earle, Viola Davis, Nicki Minaj and Kristin Chenoweth, all of whom took part in the fundraising push.
London hosts a parallel event
A similar star-studded gathering was held on the same day in London, where Dame Helen Mirren and Tom Hardy continued their public show of friendship at BGC's 9/11 charity event, a day after the pair had reunited on a red carpet.
Hardy, 48, and Dame Helen, 81, joined a host of other celebrities on the trading floor at the company's Canary Wharf offices, taking calls and conducting real financial trades with clients as part of the same 25th anniversary fundraising effort.
They were joined by pregnant singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock, television presenter Kate Garraway, comedian Michael McIntyre, former footballer Jamie Redknapp and entertainer Leigh Francis.
As in New York, one hundred per cent of the day's global revenues were donated to the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund and other charities. Since it began, the annual Charity Day has raised more than $234 million for around 1,000 charities around the world.
