A lot of people tend to think or will say to me, “How can you help animals when there’s starving children in the world?” Just because I have compassion for animals doesn’t mean that it’s going to run out and then I won’t have compassion for humans, or vice versa. It’s limitless, and it’s infinite, truly infinite. And compassion is compassion is compassion, and all living beings deserve compassion.

The vibrant and beautiful Ms. Elaine Hendrix. You probably recognize her from blockbuster movies like Disney’s “Parent Trap,” “Inspector Gadget 2,” and “Superstar;” as well as the acclaimed CBS television series “Joan of Arcadia,” and independent film productions like “What the Bleep Do We Know!?”

Despite being famous for her many roles as the “bad guy,” the real Elaine Hendrix is a tender-hearted animal rights advocate who sets aside time in her demanding profession for her greatest passion – the humane treatment of animals, by working to protect and save our fellow beings while raising awareness about their suffering.

It’s one thing to love an animal, but to respect it as the animal that it is and for its own animal needs, that’s something different.

Elaine Hendrix has long been recognized for her energetic nature and performance skills, which were evident at an early age.

I basically have been performing since the time I was born. I was one of these children who made everybody sit down and watch me as I entertained them after dinner. So I did school plays, I did dancing, modeling. I was on all kinds of team sports, like cheerleading where it was also performance oriented.

And then I went to a performing arts high school, and then that’s kind of what changed everything for me when I suddenly realized that all of my artistic inclinations could actually become a profession. And from there I won a model search and got an agent, and then learned about acting. I traveled in Europe, then through the US, and then finally came out to Los Angeles, and the rest is history.

Elaine’s versatile talent has led to over 100 film, television, and stage credits. Renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning film credit Roger Ebert said that she had earned her comedic stripes. We asked Ms. Hendrix what his compliment meant to her.

A lot of my roles have been very physical, have been very comedic and out there. That’s kind of, I guess, would be my specialty. And a lot of that comes from my dance background, being physical, being aware of my body, knowing how to use it – as a dancer, you dance through the pain. I’m not really nervous about getting hurt and things like that for stunts. I’ve had lizards in my mouth and I’ve had vases broken over my head, and jumped out of exploding buildings, and all kinds of crazy stuff. So at least that’s what I like to think he’s talking about. I’ve paid my dues.

And you also starred in the movie, “Inspector Gadget 2.”

That was one that we shot in Australia. We were in Brisbane for three months. The cast and crew became very close. I’ve done a lot of movies for Disney, and working for Disney. It’s just fun, it’s for kids, and it’s very colorful. Driving down the road and I got the kangaroo crossing in front of me – just things that I don’t experience here in the US. So all the way around it was an amazing experience.

Elaine’s role as a teenage cheerleader opposite Molly Shannon and Will Ferrell in “Superstar” made it an especially memorable film. We asked her approach in doing comedy, and what other projects she enjoys working on.

Have fun. I mean, that’s the name of the game in comedy – have fun. Absurd circumstances, and make them as real as you possibly as you can.

Is there a particular show you really enjoyed or were proud of being a part of?

All my projects are like children. I don’t necessarily have one favorite over the other. I appreciate every project I’ve done. Certainly “The Parent Trap” has been something that really kind of set the tone for my career. And it’s on TV pretty much every single day somewhere in the world, and it’s afforded me a lot in life. And I’m really grateful for that.

But the “Bleep” was really special; I’ve got a part for that film in every capacity, from shooting the movie to speaking at conferences, to writing the music for the sequel, to doing voiceover for the sequel, to producing a live concert event, a festival for them, so I really got to be involved.

And then television is fun because I get to kind of go in and out to create different characters all the time. It used to be very much that you were a theater actor or you were a film actor. But all those lines are blurred now. And that’s kind of how I live my life. I believe creativity is creativity, no matter what genre or what medium you’re putting it in. I love independent films. In fact, that’s starting to become the bulk of my work. I really enjoy the autonomy of independent films, and I enjoy how the characters I get to play change.

I was part of this film, “Dear Lemon Lima,” a beautiful, very quirky film, coming of age of a young girl. It’s set in Alaska, has a lot to do with Native Americans, and her journey in accepting herself. And every single day I did nothing to my hair, I wore not one stitch of make-up. I wore polyester sweat suits, and I just don’t know how many studios or networks are going to give me a chance to do that because they see me as the glammed up role. So that’s a good example of something that I got to do that was very outside my range.

And you are also an award-winning producer. For example, you are co-producing the film “Good Intentions” featuring Luke Perry and LeAnn Rimes. How did you find the role of producer?

I’ve been producing live events since I was in high school. I’ve produced fashion events, festivals, concert events, non-profit events, stage, films. It’s a different side of my brain that I like to exercise. And so with that, I got a call one time to go be a part of this film. And I was like, “Well, I’ve got a lot of contacts and a lot of experience, and I can really help you all.” And again, all independent, and for the web, and a couple of TV projects. I have a radio project now in development. And I enjoy it.

In addition to acting, animals have a special place in Elaine’s heart, and her compassion for them is truly admirable.

Your co-star for “Inspector Gadget 2” was French Stewart and he was inspired by you to change the way he saw and treated animals. Could you tell us about what happened?

French and I became friends after “Inspector Gadget 2” and he’s such a sweet guy. He is just a lovely, lovely human being. And so I was awarded the Guardian Award at the Animal Rights Conference. I asked him to come and present the award, actually present the award to me, and he said yes. Anyone who knows me knows that I love animals.

But I think that night was just particularly special to him, because he had heard me talk about it, and then to see me sort of in my environment. He was so cute. He went out and bought some Vans that wouldn’t be leather, and he didn’t wear a belt and all these things.

Growing up in a small town and blessed with nature-loving parents, Elaine’s adoration for animals was fostered since her youth.

Growing up in Tennessee, I grew up on a hill with a forest for a backyard. Basically, where I lived was the foothills of the Appalachians. And so I grew up to respect nature. And my love for animals, just innately was developed. And every chance I got I’d be around animals. And still do, so my respect for them has grown.

When I was a kid, I had 103 stuffed animals, and I could’ve told you every single one of their names. And I’ve always had dogs, cats, birds, hamsters, turtles, fish, rabbits, what else? I’m about to get a goat. I’m about to rescue a goat. (Really?) Yes, that’s an animal that I’ve always wanted to have. So I just, I love them, and I respect them. I think, like most people, I never knew what was happening to animals. I had no clue.

I had a rabbit fur coat when I was a child because I loved rabbits, and I just thought, “Oh, I love rabbits and I have this rabbit fur coat, and I just love it and I love them.” And had I known how a fur coat came to be, there’s no way I would have wanted a fur coat. There’s just no way. When I got older, it was actually from an undercover fur video that I became enlightened as to what was happening with animals. And it really did shift my life forever.

And I just remembered doubling over and I just started sobbing uncontrollably. And then I was rocking back and forth because I think looking back I actually went in shock, and because I could not believe what I’ve seen. And I just started rocking, saying, “Oh my God, oh my God! I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!” I had already been a vegetarian. And then, I had long given up my fur coat. I was already leading a somewhat humane life, but without really the reason of the cause or the knowledge behind it. But from that moment forward, there was no denying, no claiming ignorance anymore.

And then I learned about animal testing and I went through our entire place and I had all of our products. I was like, “We are getting rid of all of this.” And so all of our products are cruelty-free. I got rid of all my leather. I got a new car so they won’t have leather interior. And of course, all my animals are adopted, and they are spay and neutered. And I always tell people helping animals is really easy. You just need to know. That’s all. You know, it’s just about different choices, and particularly different choices with your almighty dollar.

To truly live her ideals of a kind and peaceful world, Elaine is a dedicated vegetarian.

Well, I eat vegan whenever I possibly can. I started that a long time ago, mainly when I first started practicing yoga and meditation, and just felt that it was the right thing to do.

Did you notice any changes in your health after changing your diet or your awareness?

Yeah, yeah. I find that I am, over time, becoming a softer person, I think. I feel like it also contributes to how youthful I look and feel. It increases my energy. It makes me happy. It keeps me out of feeling guilt and shame. So I think that’s a good thing. I always tell people, “You know what? Just start, cut out one day. Just go one day without meat.”

Because our bodies, we actually really, really, really don’t need meat as people think. Our country is fighting a major obesity problem. And heart disease is the number one killer. The number one cause of heart disease? Red meat. So try just cutting it out and adding in fresher, healthier, more alive food to your diet.

In learning about Supreme Master Ching Hai’s tireless devotion to animal welfare, humanitarian, and environmental causes, Elaine Hendrix offered her words of gratitude.

She just seems like off the charts busy, which I can definitely respect, especially from one woman to another. Setting big causes in the world, I commend that immensely and I hope I get to meet her. A lot of people, a lot of leaders talk about peace, and they talk about compassion, but a lot of them forget to include our furry, feathered, and finned friends.

So the fact that she’s so vocal about it, I just love that and really, really appreciate that. Because the animals need as many voices out there for them as they can possibly get. Thank you. Just very simply thank you. Thank you for the work that you do and for the role model that you are, and the inspiration that you are.

Supreme Master Ching Hai sends the following reply to Ms. Elaine Hendrix: Thank you yourself, beauty. We are lucky to have such a star like you, shining inside out. God bless you!

On August 27, 2011, Supreme Master Television hosted a star-studded event in commemoration of its 5th anniversary of constructive programming. Ms. Elaine Hendrix was among the five vegetarian and vegan celebrity Masters of Ceremonies to present a special program that included Oscar-, Grammy-, Tony-, and Emmy Award- winning artists.

I was honored to be an MC of today’s event. Five years, that’s a nice marker.

Don’t miss the re-broadcast of “The Real Love” musical and Don McLean in concert, with part one of 12, airing September 26 on Enlightening Entertainment. Next week on Vegetarian Elite, we’ll be back with Elaine to learn more about her mission to progress animal welfare.

For more on the vibrant Elaine Hendrix and her work in Hollywood and for the animals, please visit www.ElaineHendrix.com

I am Elaine Hendrix.
World Vegan,
World Peace.

Gracious viewers, thank you for your presence today on Vegetarian Elite. Coming up next is Between Master and Disciples, here on Supreme Master Television. Wishing you a tranquil weekend in the blessed company of loved ones.

Welcome, humorous viewers, to part two of our series featuring the multi-talented, virtuous Elaine Hendrix, whose greatest passion is promoting the humane treatment of animals.

A lot of people, a lot of leaders talk about peace, and they talk about compassion, but a lot of them forget to include our furry, feathered, and finned friends.

Elaine Hendrix is a vibrant actress known around the world, with over 100 credits to her name, including the Disney films “The Parent Trap” and “Inspector Gadget 2,” as well as the comedy “Superstar,” the documentary “What the Bleep Do We Know!?” and the acclaimed CBS TV series “Joan of Arcadia.” Aside from her career, Elaine’s additional interests include meditation and the practice of yoga.

I feel that spirituality is our lives, we can’t get away from it. Even people who say, “I’m not spiritual.” Well, I believe they are. They are just spiritual in their own way. Everybody’s got their own language, but at the end of the day, I tend to believe that all roads lead to Rome, so to say.

Your 2004 movie “What the Bleep Do We Know!?”, it’s quite different – the exploring, the spiritual connection between quantum physics and consciousness. What drew you to doing this project?

I had kind of been in that world, but a little bit more through metaphysics. And so when I went in to meet with the director, they really felt like it was a perfect match, because my character really did have to believe in that world, any way of “you are what you believe,” and you can have influence over your world.

One of the biggest things I learned was just how influential our chemicals are within our bodies, that our thoughts are a chemical reaction. And so we really are a whole package, a whole being. Our chemicals talk to one another, and they’re influenced by our thoughts, which influence the chemicals, which influence our thoughts, our beliefs, our emotions, our actions. It’s all intertwined together.

What I hear from people that they watch that movie over and over and over again, because there’s just so much information. (Right.) And it’s put into as best of layman terms as they could, as well as weaving in a story to kind of help illustrate it so people could get it. So I tried to even bring it down into even more practical terms and examples from my life. At the end of the day, people want to know, “How do I make my life better?” (Right.) It was really a great honor for me to be able to talk with people. And then from that, I’ve had many other speaking engagements and continue to, which I enjoy.

Elaine dedicates most of her time and energy to protecting animals. In addition to being a vegetarian, she pursues activities such as public speaking on animal welfare and working with animal defense organizations.

My work began when I saw that undercover fur video. That changed my life, and then I started doing outreach to different organizations, and I started getting invited to a lot of different events, all across the country, for lobbying, or building habitats, or rescuing, or just showing up to speak to educate people. I’ve even guest lectured at universities, which I still do and I love doing.

And then I got on the board of an organization, and now I’m on the board of another one, Stray Rescue of St. Louis. But in between all that, I met up with Scotlund Haisley, and with him and a couple of other people, an Animal Rescue Corps was born. And I love doing it. I work more on that now than my acting career. I’m one of the staff members. I’m on the rescue team, and then also being on the board and an officer. I’m very, very intimately and intricately involved in the organization. But since I do, it is a great, great honor to do it.

Could you tell us more about Animal Rescue Corps and its mission and its accomplishments so far?

We, the Corps team, have over 40 years of experience, even though we’re a relatively new organization. Because of the experience and because of the resources that we have, we’ve had great success very quickly. Our basic work is large-scale rescues, meaning we bust puppy mills, hoarding situations, dog-fighting rings, cock-fighting rings, exotic trades, private zoos, anything in which large numbers of animals are affected, or large-sized animals are affected.

So communities that are aware of abuse, but don’t have the resources to be able to stop it, they call us in. And with the local law enforcement or even national government agencies. We’ll go in with them and bust the situation, get the animals out, get them the treatment that they need, and then get them into placement partners where they’ll either go to a sanctuary or a rescue group, to either live their lives out, or hopefully be adopted if it’s a domestic animal.

This is around the United States?

All of North America, (Oh, wow!) so Canada and Mexico, and then we also have a liaison in South Korea. So we’re set up to where we could travel all over the world. It just so happens that right now, the bulk of our rescues have been in the US, although we have cases being investigated all the time, because unfortunately there’s not a shortage of animal suffering. We can also rescue out of natural disasters, tornados, floods and whatnot. I like to say we’re sort of an A to Z turnkey solution for everything rescue.

So, let’s say there’s another rescue organization or sanctuary or shelter who needs some tweaking, or needs some information, we can go and do an assessment. We can help them with their programs. And then we can also help law enforcement with training. We train volunteers, we train law officials, we train other rescue workers – just increase knowledge, and create and increase skills, so that more animals can be helped.

Currently, the organization is maintained by six staff members, five Board of Directors, over a dozen liaisons, and hundreds of volunteers, many of whom are trained and certified. Through their caring endeavors, the fast-growing Animal Rescue Corps certainly lives up to its tagline: “Compassion in Action.” In addition to rescues, Elaine Hendrix also emphasizes the need to raise awareness.

And you’ve also hosted the “Pets 90210” show, encouraging adoption. Could you tell us more about this noble project?

I’m one of the original founding volunteers with “Pets 90210.” That is the adoption and rescue group, as far as like fostering, adopting, spay-and-neutering portion of my work. And then I have my international work with Animal Rescue Corps.

So for me, they go hand in hand, like get the message out of rescuing and how important it is to get animals out of cruelty situations, and suffering situations, and then get them into good homes, get them adopted and fostered, because so many people think, "Oh, you know, animals that come from shelters, they’re damaged, or they’re not good in some way.” And it’s like, no, ironically, the complete opposite. You go to buy one, you’re more likely to get a sick animal or a damaged animal.

Elaine herself provides a home for six cherished rescued animal companions.

So, I have a cattle dog and a Jindo, and I have two little Chihuahua mixes. This is Dinky, who’s one of them. And then I have two cats, two domestic short hairs, a black kitty and a gray tabby.

Tiloc is my cattle dog who I call “my original girl.” She came named. I rescued her from people who weren’t able to keep her anymore. I found out later that I was her third owner, her third guardian. So I thought, “She’s been through enough trauma.” Rossmore is my Jindo, and I found him on Rossmore, and he was just wandering around. Dinky, she was also off the street, and because she’s so little and such a personality, and I just, I don’t know, Dinky came to me. Blitz is the other Chihuahua who was just racing around like a little demon dog. Kimbo was another rescue.

And finally, little Goodie Cornbread, I got him while I was filming "Good Intentions," actually. And he was living on this fairgrounds that was used for flea markets.

The ever-humble Elaine Hendrix’s dedication to protecting animals from suffering is truly remarkable and has gained her much well-deserved recognition.

Among your many awards, you accepted the Guardian Award at the 2009 Animal Rights Conference. What did the awards mean to you?

Well, I think to get any award is a very special thing, because it’s acknowledging that you’ve done something in whatever field, something of note. And for me, I feel like the level of celebrity that I have, I can reach a lot of people. And to me, that’s how I can give back. That’s what I can do. I’ll do it regardless of whether I get an award or not. But I was actually truly honored to receive that award, and especially for something that so touches every cell of my being, I really appreciated that.

The Mayor of St. Louis, Missouri officially proclaimed December 4th Elaine Hendrix Day (Yes, he did) and you got the key to the city. Would you please share that story with us?

I think that is actually the greatest honor I have ever received. I have my own day. (Yeah, that’s pretty cool.) That just blew me away. I wasn’t expecting it at all. I’m on the Board of Stray Rescue St. Louis, and so I go there for a lot for events and to do some rescue work.

According to Elaine, helping animals is actually quite simple. She next outlines some steps we can all take to get involved.

Adopt. Don’t buy. That’s easy to do. Have your animal spayed or neutered. That’s really easy to do. Buy the cruelty-free product versus the product that tests on animals. That’s really easy to do. Don’t buy a fur coat; again, easy. It’s like, these are easy things. It’s not like I’m asking you to drop your day job, leave your family, and come live on the road with me to rescue animals.

No, it’s about day-to-day, very simple choices, and particularly where you’re spending your almighty dollar, because that’s what drives it all. There would be no cruelty industry if the cruelty industry weren’t profiting in some way. And that’s because they can keep their overhead really low by giving animals the minimal care, by killing them. So keep all overhead low and then drive up the cost of the product.

(Right) And they’re seeing these animals, these loving beings, as no different than like a chair or a slab of concrete that’s just objects, when in reality, they’re sentient beings with their own thoughts and feelings.

Ms. Hendrix also expressed her support for Supreme Master Television and its message of peace and compassion for all beings.

I think it’s something very special and very unique that a network can come out, show the positive, and it’s proving successful. So I think that’s a pretty incredible thing.

To close, the lovely Elaine Hendrix shared a final message for our audience around the globe.

The message that I would like to share is to remember that compassion is limitless.

I’m Elaine Hendrix. You’re watching Supreme Master Television. Be Veg, Go Green 2 Save the Planet!

Our heartfelt thanks, Elaine Hendrix, for your altruistic work on behalf of animals and for touching so many lives on screen and in your daily life. We wish you all the best in Heaven’s blessings as you continue to beautify our world through your immense talents and magnanimous heart.

For more on the vibrant Elaine Hendrix and her noble work, please visit www.elainehendrix.com.

Gracious viewers, thank you for your presence today on Vegetarian Elite. Coming up next is Between Master and Disciples, here on Supreme Master Television. May your every day radiate with the light of the Divine in the cherished company of all beings.