One month before the release of the highly anticipated film The Birth of a Nation, actress Gabrielle Union shook the world with a vulnerable and impassioned editorial in which she urged our society to have compassion for victims of sexual violence. In the wake of rape allegations made against director and actor Nate Parker, Union-a forty-four-year-old actress who launched her career with roles in iconic 90s movies-instantly became the insightful, outspoken actress that Hollywood has been desperately awaiting.