diff --git a/deploy-slack-action/action.yml b/deploy-slack-action/action.yml
index fa8107f8..87d085cc 100644
--- a/deploy-slack-action/action.yml
+++ b/deploy-slack-action/action.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ inputs:
     required: true
   mention-person:
     description: "User to mention in message"
+  author:
+    description: "Override the GitHub actor (for dispatched workflows)"
   status:
     description: 'Status of the deployment [start, done, request, success, cancelled, failure]'
     default: 'start'
@@ -29,5 +31,6 @@ runs:
         slack-api-token: ${{ inputs.slack-api-token }}
         channel: ${{ inputs.channel }}
         mention-person: ${{ inputs.mention-person }}
+        author: ${{ inputs.author }}
         status: ${{ inputs.status }}
         extras: nope
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/helper-slack-action/action.yml b/helper-slack-action/action.yml
index af7ff80b..64564d4f 100644
--- a/helper-slack-action/action.yml
+++ b/helper-slack-action/action.yml
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ inputs:
     required: true
   mention-person:
     description: "User to mention in message"
+  author:
+    description: "Override the GitHub actor (for dispatched workflows)"
   status:
     description: "Status of run [start, done, request]"
     default: "start"
diff --git a/slack-javascript-action/dist/deploy/index.js b/slack-javascript-action/dist/deploy/index.js
index 3032dad1..fcbbea60 100644
--- a/slack-javascript-action/dist/deploy/index.js
+++ b/slack-javascript-action/dist/deploy/index.js
@@ -579,10 +579,15 @@ const getReleaseNotes = (githubContext) => {
     }
     return "no release notes";
 };
-const getAuthor = (githubContext) => githubContext.event.release &&
-    !githubContext.event.release.author.login.includes("github-actions")
-    ? githubContext.event.release.author.login
-    : githubContext.actor;
+const getAuthor = (githubContext) => {
+    const authorOverride = (0, core_1.getInput)("author");
+    if (authorOverride)
+        return authorOverride;
+    return githubContext.event.release &&
+        !githubContext.event.release.author.login.includes("github-actions")
+        ? githubContext.event.release.author.login
+        : githubContext.actor;
+};
 const getDateTime = () => {
     return Intl.DateTimeFormat("en", {
         timeZone: "America/Chicago",
diff --git a/slack-javascript-action/src/useConfig.ts b/slack-javascript-action/src/useConfig.ts
index 539ef9e0..dd70bec4 100644
--- a/slack-javascript-action/src/useConfig.ts
+++ b/slack-javascript-action/src/useConfig.ts
@@ -61,11 +61,15 @@ const getReleaseNotes = (githubContext: GithubContextType): string => {
   return "no release notes";
 };
 
-const getAuthor = (githubContext: GithubContextType): string =>
-  githubContext.event.release &&
-  !githubContext.event.release.author.login.includes("github-actions")
+const getAuthor = (githubContext: GithubContextType): string => {
+  const authorOverride = getInput("author");
+  if (authorOverride) return authorOverride;
+
+  return githubContext.event.release &&
+    !githubContext.event.release.author.login.includes("github-actions")
     ? githubContext.event.release.author.login
     : githubContext.actor;
+};
 
 const getDateTime = (): string => {
   return Intl.DateTimeFormat("en", {