Ari Emanuel
Encyclopedia
Ariel "Ari" Zev Emanuel (born March 29, 1961) is an American talent agent
, founder of the Endeavor Talent Agency in Beverly Hills, California
, and now co-CEO of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment
, Endeavor's successor by merger. As of December 4, 2009, he was purportedly representing Martin Scorsese
, Larry David
, Michael Moore
, Matt Damon
, Sacha Baron Cohen
, Conan O'Brien
, Mark Wahlberg
and Charlize Theron
, among others. His special relationship with his clients coupled with his stature in the industry has led to various homages and parodies over the years, including Bob Odenkirk
's character, Stevie Grant, on The Larry Sanders Show
, and Ari Gold
, played by Jeremy Piven
on the HBO television show Entourage. He also currently serves on the board of Live Nation
.
, Emanuel was raised in suburban Wilmette, Illinois
. Emanuel is the brother of former White House Chief of Staff
and current Chicago Mayor
Rahm Emanuel
, National Institutes of Health
bioethicist Ezekiel J. Emanuel
, and adopted sister Shoshana Emanuel. His father, the Jerusalem-born Dr. Benjamin M. Emanuel is a pediatrician who was active in the Irgun
, a hardline group that fought for Israeli independence until 1948 and was branded as a terrorist organization by the British colonial authorities. His mother, Marsha Emanuel (née Smulevitz), was a civil rights activist, and the one-time owner of a Chicago-area rock and roll
club. As a child, Ari was diagnosed as both hyperactive and dyslexic
, and his mother spent hours helping him to learn to read. She also took him to anti-war protests. He is a graduate of New Trier West High School and of Macalester College
in St Paul, Minnesota where he was roommates with director Peter Berg
. He is married to Sarah Addington and they have three sons.
, and lived for a time in Paris and New York City. Emanuel then worked at the Hollywood agencies Creative Artists Agency, Inter Talent, and International Creative Management
(ICM). By 1995, Emanuel had established himself as a senior agent at ICM but was abruptly fired that year when he and three other agents were caught sneaking files out of the company's offices in the middle of the night. He then co-founded Endeavor Talent Agency with "his fellow late night vigilantes", who included Rick Rosen, Tom Strickler and David Greenblatt. In June 2009, Endeavor merged with the William Morris Agency creating William Morris Endeavor Entertainment.
Mel Gibson
because of Gibson’s "anti-Semitic remarks" during his DUI arrest. Emanuel wrote, "People in the entertainment community, whether Jew or Gentile, need to demonstrate that they understand how much is at stake in this by professionally shunning Mel Gibson and refusing to work with him, even if it means a sacrifice to their bottom line."
Emanuel's name was in an August 17, 2006. advertisement in the Los Angeles Times
that condemned Hamas
and Hezbollah and supported Israel in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
.
In 2007, Emanuel publicly backed Chris Albrecht
after Albrecht was fired from HBO for a domestic violence arrest, preceded by rumors of three earlier incidents of violence against women. Emanuel wrote, "If Hollywood is going to give Mel Gibson a second chance, and sports fans are going to cheer on stars like Jason Kidd
, Latrell Sprewell
, and Stephen Jackson
who have made similar mistakes, why not Chris Albrecht
?" Emanuel later helped Albrecht land his next job at IMG
.
Emanuel has hosted fundraisers for the Democratic Party
.
According to Epstein, Emanuel made racist and anti-gay remarks and prevented her from sending a script about Navy SEALs
to actor Wesley Snipes
, saying, "That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Everyone knows that blacks
don’t swim." Emanuel disputed these accusations at the time. Epstein's claims were settled for $2.25 million.
Talent agent
A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, authors, film directors, musicians, models, producers, professional athletes, writers and other people in various entertainment businesses. Having an agent is not required, but does help the artist in getting jobs...
, founder of the Endeavor Talent Agency in Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
, and now co-CEO of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment
William Morris Agency
WME is the largest talent agency in the world, with offices in Beverly Hills, New York City, Nashville, London, and Miami. WME represents elite artists from all facets of the entertainment industry, including motion pictures, television, music, theatre, publishing, and physical production...
, Endeavor's successor by merger. As of December 4, 2009, he was purportedly representing Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
, Larry David
Larry David
Lawrence Gene "Larry" David is an American actor, writer, comedian and producer. He is best known as the co-creator , head writer, and executive producer of the television series Seinfeld from 1989 to 1996, and for creating the 1999 HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, a partially improvised sitcom in...
, Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
, Matt Damon
Matt Damon
Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...
, Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha Noam Baron Cohen is an English stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and voice artist. He is most widely known for his portrayal of three unorthodox fictional characters: Ali G, Borat, and Brüno...
, Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
, Mark Wahlberg
Mark Wahlberg
Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg is an American actor, film and television producer, and former rapper. He was known as Marky Mark in his earlier years, and became famous for his 1991 debut as a musician with the band Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. He was named No. 1 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of...
and Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron is a South African actress, film producer and former fashion model.She rose to fame in the late 1990s following her roles in 2 Days in the Valley, Mighty Joe Young, The Devil's Advocate and The Cider House Rules...
, among others. His special relationship with his clients coupled with his stature in the industry has led to various homages and parodies over the years, including Bob Odenkirk
Bob Odenkirk
Robert "Bob" Odenkirk is an American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer. He is best known as the co-creator and co-star of the HBO sketch comedy series Mr...
's character, Stevie Grant, on The Larry Sanders Show
The Larry Sanders Show
The Larry Sanders Show is a satirical television sitcom that aired from August 1992 to May 1998 on the HBO cable television network in the United States. It starred stand-up comedian Garry Shandling as vain, neurotic talk show host Larry Sanders, and centered on the running of his TV show, and the...
, and Ari Gold
Ari Gold (Entourage)
Ariel "Ari" Gold is a fictional character on the comedy-drama television series Entourage. He was played by Jeremy Piven.-Biography:Ari Gold is Vincent Chase's neurotic movie agent. He is a product of the public school system. He was an undergrad at Harvard University before earning his J.D./M.B.A....
, played by Jeremy Piven
Jeremy Piven
Jeremy Samuel Piven is an American film producer and actor best known for his role as Ari Gold in the television series Entourage for which he has won three Emmy Awards as well as several other nominations for Best Supporting Actor....
on the HBO television show Entourage. He also currently serves on the board of Live Nation
Live Nation
Live Nation is a live-events company based in Beverly Hills, California, focused on concert promotions. Live Nation formed in 2005 as a spin-off from Clear Channel Communications, which then merged with Ticketmaster in 2010 to become Live Nation Entertainment....
.
Background
Born in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Emanuel was raised in suburban Wilmette, Illinois
Wilmette, Illinois
Wilmette is a village in New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located north of Chicago's downtown district and has a population of 27,651. Wilmette is considered a bedroom community in the North Shore district...
. Emanuel is the brother of former White House Chief of Staff
White House Chief of Staff
The White House Chief of Staff is the highest ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President.The current White House Chief of Staff is Bill Daley.-History:...
and current Chicago Mayor
Mayor of Chicago
The Mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of Chicago, Illinois, the third largest city in the United States. He or she is charged with directing city departments and agencies, and with the advice and consent of the Chicago City Council, appoints department and agency leaders.-Appointment...
Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Israel Emanuel is an American politician and the 55th and current Mayor of Chicago. He was formerly White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama...
, National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
bioethicist Ezekiel J. Emanuel
Ezekiel J. Emanuel
Ezekiel "Zeke" Jonathan Emanuel M.D. Ph.D. is an American bioethicist and fellow at the nonprofit bioethics research institute The Hastings Center. He opposes legalized euthanasia, sometimes called state-assisted suicide, and is a proponent of a voucher-based universal health care...
, and adopted sister Shoshana Emanuel. His father, the Jerusalem-born Dr. Benjamin M. Emanuel is a pediatrician who was active in the Irgun
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
, a hardline group that fought for Israeli independence until 1948 and was branded as a terrorist organization by the British colonial authorities. His mother, Marsha Emanuel (née Smulevitz), was a civil rights activist, and the one-time owner of a Chicago-area rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
club. As a child, Ari was diagnosed as both hyperactive and dyslexic
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a very broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and which can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, or rapid...
, and his mother spent hours helping him to learn to read. She also took him to anti-war protests. He is a graduate of New Trier West High School and of Macalester College
Macalester College
Macalester College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was founded in 1874 as a Presbyterian-affiliated but nonsectarian college. Its first class entered September 15, 1885. The college is located on a campus in a historic residential neighborhood...
in St Paul, Minnesota where he was roommates with director Peter Berg
Peter Berg
Peter Berg is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is known for directing films such as Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom, The Rundown, Hancock and Battleship. He also developed the television series Friday Night Lights, which was adapted from the film he directed. As an actor...
. He is married to Sarah Addington and they have three sons.
Professional career
After graduation from Macalester College in 1983, Emanuel played professional racquetballRacquetball
For other sports often called "paddleball", see Paddleball .Racquetball is a racquet sport played with a hollow rubber ball in an indoor or outdoor court...
, and lived for a time in Paris and New York City. Emanuel then worked at the Hollywood agencies Creative Artists Agency, Inter Talent, and International Creative Management
International Creative Management
International Creative Management is a talent and literary agency with offices in Los Angeles, New York, and London. ICM is a full-service agency representing creative and technical talent in the fields of motion pictures, television, fiction and nonfiction publishing, music, live performance,...
(ICM). By 1995, Emanuel had established himself as a senior agent at ICM but was abruptly fired that year when he and three other agents were caught sneaking files out of the company's offices in the middle of the night. He then co-founded Endeavor Talent Agency with "his fellow late night vigilantes", who included Rick Rosen, Tom Strickler and David Greenblatt. In June 2009, Endeavor merged with the William Morris Agency creating William Morris Endeavor Entertainment.
Public advocacy
Emanuel gained widespread media attention in July 2006 when he called on Hollywood to blacklistBlacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
because of Gibson’s "anti-Semitic remarks" during his DUI arrest. Emanuel wrote, "People in the entertainment community, whether Jew or Gentile, need to demonstrate that they understand how much is at stake in this by professionally shunning Mel Gibson and refusing to work with him, even if it means a sacrifice to their bottom line."
Emanuel's name was in an August 17, 2006. advertisement in the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
that condemned Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
and Hezbollah and supported Israel in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War #Other uses|Tammūz]]) and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War , was a 34-day military conflict in Lebanon, northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. The principal parties were Hezbollah...
.
In 2007, Emanuel publicly backed Chris Albrecht
Chris Albrecht
Chris Albrecht is an American media executive. Albrecht is currently the President and CEO of Starz, LLC, Liberty Media Corp.'s pay cable and movie unit. Albrecht is the former Chairman and CEO of HBO. He founded Foresee Entertainment, an independent content creation, development and distribution...
after Albrecht was fired from HBO for a domestic violence arrest, preceded by rumors of three earlier incidents of violence against women. Emanuel wrote, "If Hollywood is going to give Mel Gibson a second chance, and sports fans are going to cheer on stars like Jason Kidd
Jason Kidd
Jason Frederick Kidd is an American professional basketball point guard who plays for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association. Raised in Oakland, California, Kidd played college basketball at the University of California, Berkeley and was drafted second overall by the Dallas...
, Latrell Sprewell
Latrell Sprewell
Latrell Fontaine Sprewell is a former American professional basketball player. During his time as a professional, Sprewell was named to the NBA All-Star game during four seasons, and played for the Golden State Warriors, the New York Knicks, and the Minnesota Timberwolves...
, and Stephen Jackson
Stephen Jackson
Stephen Jesse Jackson is an American professional basketball player for the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks. Jackson is a 6'8" guard-forward.-Early life, high school, and college:Jackson was born in Houston and grew up in Port Arthur, Texas...
who have made similar mistakes, why not Chris Albrecht
Chris Albrecht
Chris Albrecht is an American media executive. Albrecht is currently the President and CEO of Starz, LLC, Liberty Media Corp.'s pay cable and movie unit. Albrecht is the former Chairman and CEO of HBO. He founded Foresee Entertainment, an independent content creation, development and distribution...
?" Emanuel later helped Albrecht land his next job at IMG
IMG (business)
IMG, originally known as the International Management Group is a global sports and media business headquartered in New York City.-History:...
.
Emanuel has hosted fundraisers for the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
.
Controversy
An April 2002 lawsuit by agent Sandra Epstein against Endeavor Agency brought accusations by Epstein and other Endeavor employees against Emanuel. In the court filings, Emanuel is alleged to have allowed a friend to operate a pornographic website out of Endeavor's offices.According to Epstein, Emanuel made racist and anti-gay remarks and prevented her from sending a script about Navy SEALs
United States Navy SEALs
The United States Navy's Sea, Air and Land Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's principal special operations force and a part of the Naval Special Warfare Command as well as the maritime component of the United States Special Operations Command.The acronym is derived from their...
to actor Wesley Snipes
Wesley Snipes
Wesley Trent Snipes is an American actor, film producer, and martial artist, who has starred in numerous action films, thrillers, and dramatic feature films. Snipes is known for playing the Marvel Comics character Blade in the Blade film trilogy, among various other high profile roles...
, saying, "That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Everyone knows that blacks
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
don’t swim." Emanuel disputed these accusations at the time. Epstein's claims were settled for $2.25 million.
External links
- Political blog at The Huffington PostThe Huffington PostThe Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
- William Morris Agency Homepage