From Acting to Family Focus
Sinise’s decision to step away from acting was driven by personal hardship. In late 2019, as the health of his son, Mac Sinise, declined because of a rare spinal cancer, Gary Sinise wrapped up his last acting jobs, including roles in “Joe Bell,” “I Still Believe,” and the series “13 Reasons Why.”“Leaving home was getting harder and harder as Mac was getting more and more challenged with things,” Sinise said. By December 2019, he finished his acting commitments and began focusing entirely on his family and the Gary Sinise Foundation.
Mac, a talented musician and foundation staffer, battled chordoma for nearly six years. Despite his condition, he completed an album, “Resurrection & Revival,” in 2023.
“He celebrated his 33rd birthday in the recording studio, recording an album in 2023 that he envisioned doing, and he was very disabled by this awful, rare cancer that took his life,” Sinise said. Mac’s music continues to support the foundation’s mission, with proceeds from album sales benefiting veterans and first responders.
Sinise’s wife, Moira Sinise, also faced health challenges, undergoing multiple surgeries for stage 3 breast cancer.
“A month before Mac was diagnosed with cancer, she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer,“ Sinise said. ”That was a hard summer—the 2018 summer. I had two cancer patients ... to care for, and that was tough.”
Inspired by Family and History
Sinise’s commitment to veterans began decades before his Hollywood fame. Influenced by Vietnam veterans in his wife’s family and his own relatives who had served in earlier wars, Sinise became aware of the challenges faced by veterans returning home.“I started to feel very guilty and badly for what happened to them, you know, when they served in Vietnam and came home,“ Sinise said. ”So I wanted to try to do something back in the early ’80s and in Chicago.”
This led to his involvement in the play “Tracers,” written and performed by Vietnam veterans. The experience opened his eyes to the struggles of veterans and inspired his ongoing support.
Playing Lieutenant Dan in “Forrest Gump” further deepened his connection to the veteran community.
The Gary Sinise Foundation
Founded in 2011, the Gary Sinise Foundation supports veterans, first responders, and their families through a range of programs.“We are here to support all those who serve and defend us on the military side—our veterans, our families that serve alongside them, our first responders, the families that serve alongside them, families of our fallen heroes. ... We have a role to play in supporting there,” Sinise said.
- Lieutenant Dan Band: Sinise’s band has performed nearly 600 free concerts at military bases and hospitals worldwide over the past 20 years.
- RISE Program: Builds specially adapted smart homes for severely wounded veterans. “We just gave away our 95th house since I’ve been involved in this,” Sinise said.
- First Responder Outreach: Provides support for first responders, including vehicles for those in need and memorials such as the Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance, honoring those lost on 9/11.
- Snowball Express: Brings children and surviving spouses of fallen military and first responder heroes to Disney World for healing and community. “Every year, we take over 1,000 kids and the surviving spouse of military heroes to Disney World,“ Sinise said. ”And then a couple of years ago, we started adding families of fallen first responders.”
Philosophy of Service and Healing
Sinise said he believes that service is a powerful way to heal personal pain and strengthen communities.“Service—I always say this is a great healer for a broken heart, and it helped me a lot through our fight for our son and the difficulties and the challenges of fighting for him and then losing him,” Sinise said, noting that he did not stop doing service work during that time. “It was the thing that was helping me with our own battle at home.”
