Hollywood actress takes to the streets of Austin with a message for rape survivors

A Hollywood actress takes to the streets of Downtown Austin after her movie about a sexual assault survivor premiered at the SXSW.

You may know actress Stephanie Beatriz from the police sitcom “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” on Fox where she plays a mysterious and tough detective. But in her new film, "The Light of the Moon" she takes on a much more emotional and vulnerable role one she said hits close to home,   portraying a sexual assault survivor.  The film tells the story of a young and successful architect who is sexually assaulted walking home after an evening out with friends. At first she tries to keep the assault a secret from her long-term boyfriend, but the truth quickly comes out. Fighting to regain normalcy, she comes to find out how getting back to her old life is more difficult than expected. Beatriz said deciding to do the movie; she sent the script to a dear friend and a sexual assault survivor. Capturing real life and relating, her friend told she had to do the film. "It was really important for me to do it, because if she wanted me to tell that story, I knew it was the right story to tell," she said.

Right after the film premiered at the State Theater, Beatriz with dozens of people behind her took to the streets of Downtown Austin on her way to a solidarity event at West 6th Street. Their message "End Rape Culture." Beatriz said the small march is a way for her to send a message to rape survivors to let them know they are not alone.  “We don't know what it's like but we are here to listen, you can tell us whatever you want to tell us. You didn't do anything wrong, it's not your fault that you were raped and there's nothing that you could've done to prevent it," she said.

With a lot of legislation geared toward sexual assault at the Capitol this year, Beatriz said it's important for her voice to be heard in her home State of Texas. “One voice is very important is strong, 10 voices is stronger, 100 voices is strong, a million voices is stronger than that,” she said.