USA Network recently announced the ten honorees for the second Character Approved Awards, which honor individuals who are changing the face of American culture. Included among the award recipients are Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy, co-founders of Harmonix Music Systems, the group behind Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

The two musicians, who met at MIT, founded Harmonix in 1995 to bring the ability to make music to everyone, even those with no musical training. After designing several music games, the duo made it to the big time with the 2005 release of Guitar Hero, followed in 2007 by the equally popular Rock Band. Rigopulos and Egozy’s games inspired impressive growth in the category of music games and earned the two a place on Time Magazine’s 2008 list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

“Character Approved is a celebration of the real Characters making an impact on our culture today,” said Chris McCumber, USA executive vice president, marketing, digital and brand strategy. “Our honorees are all at the top of their game, and we’re thrilled to shine a light on their unique accomplishments.”

USA is also recognizing these nine individuals for their cultural impact, legacy and persona:

• Green Day, Grammy Award-winning rock band (Music)
• Kathryn Bigelow, Academy Award-nominated film director, “The Hurt Locker” (Film/TV)
• Nora Ephron, best-selling novelist, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and playwright (Writing)
• Narciso Rodriguez, multiple award-winning American fashion designer (Fashion)
• Angela Brooks, groundbreaking sustainable architect, principal of Pugh + Scarpa Architects (Architecture)
• Kehinde Wiley, revolutionary urban arts painter (Art)
• Yves Behar, innovative industrial designer of the Jawbone Bluetooth headset and the $100 XO laptop (Design)
• Dan Barber, renowned restaurateur, Blue Hill and Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture (Food)
• Jessica Jackley, social entrepreneur and microfinancier, co-founder Kiva.org (Giving)

The honorees will be featured in vignettes that will debut Thursday, February 25 on USA Network. The vignettes act as mini-biographies and will be aired over the course of six weeks on the network and online at characterapproved.usanetwork.com.

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