Television and stage actor Monica Raymund is scheduled to be grand marshal of this year's Chicago 47th Annual Pride Parade on Sunday, June 26.
She came out publicly two years ago. She considers herself a "proud member of the the LGBTQ communities."
Raymund stars as Gabriela Dawson in NBC's show Chicago Fire, which is filmed here in Chicago. A graduate of the Juilliard School, she starred for three seasons on the Fox drama Lie To Me. Other notable credits include features Happy Baby and Arbitrage as well as a recurring role on The Good Wife. Also, she starred in the musical Like Water for Chocolate ( Sundance Theatre Lab ) and Boleros for the Disenchanted ( Huntington Theatre ).
She is a founding member of The Mechanical Theatre Group and currently serves on the board of The Performing Arts Project. Previously, she's been part of the faculty of the Broadway Theatre Project, co-head of the communications department at the Heifetz Institute and producer on the Broadway production The Velocity of Autumn.
Raymund is the founder and president of SISU Theatrical Productions, is a director for the upcoming campaign The Hidden Tears Project and is also on the board of MOGUL, an online news aggregator and publishing platform for women.
Lastly, along with several community event organizers, she held a fundraiser this past winter for Project Fierce, a South Side collective that helps LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness.
She will be riding in a vehicle near the front of the parade procession.
Regarding the paradeas announced last December, at the request of the Citythe event will have fewer entries this year, with 160 ( down from 215 last year ).
For more information about the Pride Parade or other June Pride Month events, visit ChicagoPrideCalendar.org .