Celebrities like Kate Winslet who have shown random acts of kindness to strangers

They have prestige and status, a global platform and usually a huge amount of money at their disposal. It should come as no surprise then that some of our most famous names in the world of acting and presenting have carried out acts of kindness to strangers from all walks of life.

Today (Friday 17 February) is officially ‘Random Acts of Kindness Day’. The day is part of an effort from a foundation to encourage people to be more kind in their everyday lives.

Here are some of our most well-known celebrities and what they have done to help those unknown to them.

Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet revealed in late November 2022 that she donated £17,000 to pay a soaring energy bill for a child’s life support.

Carolynne Hunter was warned by Clackmannanshire Council that her bill could hit the high sum next year. Her daughter Freya, 13, has severe cerebral palsy and relies on receiving oxygen for chronic breathing problems.

The Oscar-winning actress said the original BBC Scotland story “absolutely destroyed me.” Ms. Hunter said she was reduced to tears by Winslet’s intervention.

The Hollywood star was asked about her donation on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg in December 2022.

On how she heard about it, Winslet told the programme: “Something popped up on the BBC Scotland news page about this woman, Carolynne Hunter’s story.

“And her saying that she would have to put her child, who has severe cerebral palsy and very, very extreme needs and is non-verbal, that she was going to have to put her child into care because she could not afford her electricity bills.

“And it absolutely destroyed me. I just thought on what planet is anyone going to let that happen, this is completely, completely wrong.”

Bear Grylls

Bear Grylls, the TV presenter and outdoors adventurer, led a secret

Matthews, who was the brother of Pippa Middleton’s husband, the racing driver turned hedge fund manager James Matthews and Made In Chelsea star Spencer Matthews, died in a mountaineering accident hours after becoming the youngest Brit to conquer the world’s highest peak.

“We actually had an expedition on Everest to try to recover the body of the brother of a good friend, who climbed it the year after I was there but was never found,” Grylls said.

“We really tried. We had the best team in the world.”

Speaking at the Oxford Union, he revealed: "We had a team of, like, 10 Nepalese guys and some other incredible Western climbers..."

Grylls, who is friends with both brothers, led the expedition earlier this year to find the body of the 22-year-old who died in 1999 after following Grylls, who had reached the summit of Everest at age 23 the previous year.

Keanu Reeves

The ‘John Wick’ and The Matrix star made headlines in 2015 when he was filmed giving up his subway seat to a fellow passenger with a heavy bag.

A train announcement heard in the video suggests that the star was on a Brooklyn-bound Q express train at the time.

It was one of Reeves’ first gracious gestures to go viral.

In March 2019, a Los Angeles-bound plane that Reeves was on was forced to make an emergency landing. That didn’t stop the actor from kindly posing for photos with his fellow passengers.

Reeves even went above and beyond, helping to organise transport to San Francisco, their destination. He regaled passengers with facts about California along the way, and even played country music from his phone.

Reeves has also donated money to children's hospitals and to cancer research.

The star reportedly runs a private charitable foundation that aims to help sick kids, but his name isn't attached to the organization.

"I have a private foundation that's been running for five or six years, and it helps aid a couple of children's hospitals and cancer research," Reeves told the Ladies Home Journal in 2009.

"I don't like to attach my name to it, I just let the foundation do what it does."

Taylor Swift

The singer-songwriter is no stranger to giving back. Taylor donated $15,500 a 19-year-old fan whose mother has been in a coma for the past three years.

In the midst of her Speak Now tour, the star donated 6,000 books to the Reading Public Library in Pennsylvania. The books were all new and geared towards children and teens, according to the local Reading Eagle.

Following Hurricane Harvey in 2017, Swift donated to the Houston Food Bank in honour of her mother, Andrea Finlay Swift, who graduated from the University of Houston. The organisation soon thanked her for her “very sizable” donation.

Taylor is one of many celebrities who has a long line of philanthropic deeds to their name.