The daughter of a famous actress mother and screenwriter-director father, Mia Farrow has starred in many films, including “Hannah and Her Sisters” and “Rosemary’s Baby.” Her marriage to Frank Sinatra and long relationship with Woody Allen are legendary. But many people don’t know she has adopted ten children, most with disabilities. She is also a fervent activist for human rights. Since her appointment as a UNICEF Good Will Ambassador in 2000, Farrow has campaigned for the rights of children affected by violence. She has become outspoken on the tragedy in Africa’s largest nation, Sudan. Considered one of the most horrific humanitarian catastrophes of the twenty-first century, a deadly conflict erupted in the Darfur region there in 2003. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed, some systematically tortured and raped, at the hands of the Sudanese government and a militia known as the Janjaweed. The head of state was indicted in 2010 by a UN court for genocide. Millions of poor people have been driven from their homes. Hear Farrow’s powerful story, from her childhood bout with polio to her crusade for the suffering people of Sudan.

I wear around my neck this amulet, which was given to me by a woman named Halima. She held my two hands and said, ‘Tell people what is happening here. Tell them we will all be slaughtered. Tell them we need help.’ And I promised Halima that I would do my best to do that. And Halima wasn?t the only one I promised, but I tell Halima’s story because I — I read that survey. If you tell people that two people are suffering, they care half as much. If you tell them that a million people are suffering, they care a millionth as much. So care about Halima, then. Care a lot about Halima, because I don’t know if she’s still alive.”

—Mia Farrow, actress and human rights activist