Environmental activist Erin Brockovich appeared on screen at 2.20 a.m. to lend her support to the more than 1,000 dancers. Here are five things you should know about her.
1. She is noted for investigating Pacific Gas & Electric's poisoning Hinkley, Calif. residents with toxic groundwater. This led to the largest direct-action lawsuit in U.S. history.
2. A 2000 biographical film named after her, made $126.6 million in North America and $130.7 million in the rest of the world.
3. She visited Northwestern in November as the Student for Ecological and Environmental Development's annual fall speaker.
4. Brockovich has since participated in other anti-pollution lawsuits. One such case which is being investigated by the EPA is one that claims that waste sludge from leather production, containing high levels of hexavalent chromium – believed to be a potential cause of abnormally high numbers of brain tumors – was distributed to farmers in Missouri to use as fertilizer.
5. She won Miss Pacific Coast in 1981, but stopped competing after that.