Anti-suicide Trevor Project to honor Radcliffe

(CBS/AP) Daniel Radcliffe is getting notice for more than just his stage and screen work.

The Broadway actor and "Harry Potter" star will receive the Hero Award for his contributions to the Trevor Project, a leading organization for suicide prevention efforts among gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youths.

Pictures: Daniel Radcliffe
Pictures: Promoting "Potter"

Announced Monday, the Trevor Project will present Radcliffe with the award in New York in June, recognizing a person who serves as an inspiration to sexual minority youths and increasing visibility and understanding of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning - or LGBTQ - community.

"It's fantastic," Radcliffe told The Associated Press. "The fact that they think of what I've done by promoting awareness of the Trevor Project itself and the issues that it works to promote and help is a great honor."

Past Hero Award recipients include Nathan Lane, screenwriter Dustin Lance Black and former Miss America and "Ugly Betty" actress Vanessa Williams.

Radcliffe was modest about his role in the Trevor Project. "The people that are doing the heroic things are the people answering phones 24 hours a day in the Trevor call centers," he said. "I think that out of everything that I've done so far in my career, I think this is absolutely one of the most important, if not the most important, thing that I'm associated with."

Radcliffe, 21, who is currently appearing on Broadway as J. Pierrepont Finch in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," says that audience members often acknowledge his work with the organization.

"I meet people at the stage door every night that thank me for what I'm doing with the Trevor project," he said.

The Trevor Project was founded in 1998 by filmmakers James Lecesne, Peggy Rajski and Randy Stone. Their 1994 film, "Trevor," about a gay 13-year-old boy who tried to commit suicide after his friends learned of his sexuality, won the Academy Award for Film Short. The film was the catalyst for the birth of the organization after it was shown on HBO in 1998.

Radcliffe became aware of the project while appearing as Alan Strang in the Broadway revival of "Equus" in 2008. He has appeared on several public service announcements and has made public statements about the organization ever since.

Part two of the highly anticipated "Harry Potter and the Deathly Harrows" will be released in June 2011.

The Trevor Project will also honor corporation Ernst & Young LLP with the Trevor 2020 Award.