Frank Stephens
Frank Stephens lives with a thought from Mahatma Gandhi foremost in his mind, “My life is my message.” That thought is at the heart of Frank’s statement, “I am a man with Down syndrome, and my life is worth living.” Frank describes himself as an Actor, Author, Advocate and truly is all of those. He has appeared in feature films (Touched by Grace), work-shopped plays in New York, developed a recurring role in the Emmy-winning Born This Way, appeared in documentaries, like The R Word and Upside Down, and is currently working as an actor/screenwriter on a film adaptation of Billy The Bomber. He has written op-ed pieces published all over the world. He is an articulate advocate, best known for his impassioned defense of the value of life with Down syndrome in testimony to the US House Appropriations Committee on behalf of the Global Down Syndrome Foundation and the United Nations Committee on Human Rights on behalf of the Lejeune Foundation. Frank logged over 70,000 miles, in 2018 alone, addressing audiences large and small, including students from middle school to Harvard Law School. Frank is a proud Member of the Board of Directors of the Tesori Family Foundation and the Global Down Syndrome Foundation, as well as a Board Member Emeritus of Special Olympics Virginia. He is equally proud to have represented Virginia as a Global Messenger since 2006.
“I am thrilled to assist the Tesori Family Foundation in any way that I can. It represents the essence of what I mean when I say, “My life is my message.” The Foundation puts faith into action and makes it visible. I want to be part of that.”