anyone else feel like these things make it sound like its important to the actor or whoever about the topic rather than them being somewhere and just asked a question so tyring to answer given the framing. ie the questions are tell us about the benefits, importance, impact, etc of whatever. Its like have they actually thought it was impactful or beneficial to begin with.
In many cases, yes. Puff pieces are usually just that.
But I already know enough about Gary Sinese as an actor to answer this, and the truth is that Forrest Gump and playing Lieutenant Dan, changed his life, not just his career.
He's become an activist, working for veterans rights groups, performing at USO shows, etc. The disabled veteran community embraced him for highlighting their plight, and in return he has never stopped working for them.