Monique Coleman Illuminates UNICEF Snowflake at Lighting Ceremony in Beverly Hills

The U.S. Fund for UNICEF announced that actress and UNICEF supporter Monique Coleman will light the UNICEF Snowflake on Saturday, November 21 at the 2009 Beverly Hills UNICEF Snowflake lighting ceremony. The UNICEF Snowflake will grace the intersection of Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Boulevard during the holiday season. The ceremony highlights the City of Beverly Hills’ annual holiday event and the season of giving.

“The UNICEF Snowflake is a special symbol for the world’s most vulnerable children,” said Caryl Stern, President and Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. “Every day 24,000 children die of preventable causes. These iconic snowflakes — at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York and on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills — hang as a reminder of UNICEF’s commitment to reach a day when zero children die from preventable causes.”

Festivities will begin at 3:00 p.m. with the official lighting at 7:00 p.m. Visitors to this famed dream drive will enjoy free entertainment — from balloon artists to jugglers, caricature artists to musicians. The streets are ripe with photo opportunities as well, with striking new holiday decor, lights and banners throughout the Golden Triangle and complimentary pictures with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

“Beverly Hills is proud to once again host this spectacular holiday kick-off, launching a season of fun for the whole family,” said Beverly Hills Mayor Nancy Krasne. “It is also our privilege, through our partnership with UNICEF, to help highlight all the outstanding work they do to relieve the poverty and suffering of children around the world.”

Coleman will flip the switch to illuminate the brilliant UNICEF Snowflake on Rodeo Drive that will soar over the Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel. The Beverly Hills Snowflake, designed by Ingo Maurer, contains 12,000 Baccarat crystals, is 17 feet wide and over 14 feet tall, weighs 1,600 pounds and is illuminated by 125 steady-burning and 300 high-powered flashing LED lights. The evening will conclude with a spectacular fireworks display across the sky above the hotel, which is home to the west coast UNICEF Snowflake.

“I am honored to participate in the Beverly Hills lighting ceremony by illuminating the UNICEF Snowflake,” said actress and UNICEF supporter Monique Coleman. “And I am proud to support UNICEF’s mission to provide immunization, education, health care, nutrition, clean water and sanitation to children in need.”

Monique Coleman was raised in Columbia, South Carolina and began her acting career in theatre and television at an early age. After high school, Monique attended The Theatre School at DePaul University and subsequently moved to Los Angeles where she is most often recognized as Taylor McKessie from the High School Musical Franchise. Monique has guest starred on various shows including Boston Public, Malcolm in the Middle, Veronica Mars, and Bones, competed in the 3rd Season of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, and co-hosted The View. She has also held a recurring role on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and voiced the character Fontasia for the Fox animated series The Cleveland Show, received two Teen Choice Awards, a Billboard Award for High School Musical and presented at The American Music Awards and The NAACP Image Awards.

Pictured: Actress Monique Coleman switches on the lights at the 2009 UNICEF Snowflake Lighting Ceremony at Rodeo Drive & Wilshire Boulevard on November 21, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for UNICEF)