National Christmas Seals Celeb, Noted 'Law & Order' Star, Hails from Detroit

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S. Epatha Merkerson with 2009 Christmas Seals poster

DETROIT, MI (12/03/2009)(readMedia)-- You may know her best as Lt. Anita Van Buren on "Law & Order" but this year noted theatre, television and film star S. Epatha Merkerson takes on a new role. As the Celebrity Chairperson for the American Lung Association's national Christmas Seals campaign, Ms. Merkerson will lend her star power to the fight against lung disease.

Staff, volunteers and other Lung Association friends throughout the Midland States region have a special reason to cheer Merkerson's support for their cause since the noted celebrity hails from this region, which serves Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Born in Sagninaw, MI, Merkerson attended Detroit's Cooley High School. She went on to earn a Bachelor's degree in fine arts from Wayne State University.

S. Epatha Merkerson, who officially changed her first name from "Sharon" some years ago, was the youngest of five children to Ann Merkerson, who worked for the Detroit Post Office. Her brother, Barrie Merkerson, currently works as an attorney for the city of Detroit.

As an Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award winner, Ms. Merkerson has won critical acclaim for her work. In her role as Lt. Van Buren, she lays claim to another singular recognition. According to various on-line resources, when she appeared in her 345th episode of "Law & Order" in May, 2008 she set a record for most appearances by an actor in a single television series. (Michele Lee of "Knotts Landing" had held the record at 344 episodes.)

Having been a smoker for 23 years and an ex-smoker for 15 years, Ms. Merkerson is a passionate advocate for lung health.

"The mission of the American Lung Association is very important to me and I'm happy to help raise awareness of the vital work they do by lending my support to the Christmas Seals Campaign," said Ms. Merkerson, who recently did a series of radio interviews on behalf of Christmas Seals.

Merkerson joins a long and distinguished list of celebrities and entertainers who have served as Chairpersons of the Christmas Seals Campaign, including Bob Hope, Jacqueline Kennedy, the Smothers Brothers and Cybill Shepherd. Part of keeping with this time-honored tradition, is for celebrity chairs to have a photograph taken with the Christmas Seal.

On September 30th, Ms. Merkerson was photographed with the 2009 Christmas Seal in New York, by Mark Abrahams, one of the leading fashion and entertainment photographers in the world today. Mr. Abrahams, who donated his services to the Lung Association, is a contributor and cover photographer for magazines such as InStyle, GQ, Marie Claire, and German Vogue.

This holiday season, the American Lung Association will send Christmas Seals decorative stamps used to decorate holiday cards and packages to over 11 million households. In addition, a newly redesigned website - found at ChristmasSeals.org - offers loads of features that let you view past year's seals and donate to this year's campaign.

For this year's campaign, the American Lung Association also brought three historic Christmas Seals to life in 15-, 20- and 30-second television public service advertisements. The spots are being distributed to media nationwide, and can also be viewed on-line at the new Christmas Seals website.

Christmas Seals are the nation's oldest direct-mail fundraising campaign. The first campaign was in 1907 to combat tuberculosis. Today, the campaign continues to help the Lung Association fight new battles against influenza, asthma, tobacco use, lung cancer and air pollution.

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