Who got signed, promoted, hired or fired? The Hollywood Reporter’s Rep Sheet rounds up the week in representation news. To submit announcements for consideration, contact rebecca.sun@thr.com.
His powers are mysterious
Claws‘ Jimmy Jean-Louis has signed with Buffalo 8 Management. As Niecy Nash’s love interest, Dr. Gregory Ruval, on the TNT crime dramedy, he was a recurring character on the first season and promoted to series regular for the recently completed season two. The Haitian-French actor is perhaps best known for his role on NBC’s Heroes, where he played a mysterious man fittingly known as The Haitian. The multilingual Jean-Louis has acted in English, French, Creole and Spanish. He also won Best Actor at the 2012 Pan African Film Festival for his performance as the title revolutionary leader in the French telepic Toussaint Louverture. His other credits include The CW’s Arrow, CBS’ Extant, French miniseries Juste Un Regard, and Joy. Jean-Louis continues to be represented by agent Monica Barkett at Global Artists.
Related Stories
President of the Pam Beesley Anti-Fan Club
Sports commentator Ryen Russillo has left CAA for ICM Partners. He currently hosts the ESPN podcast The Russillo Show. From 2009 to 2017, he hosted an ESPN Radio show, first with co-host Scott Van Pelt (SVP & Russillo) and then Danny Kanell (Russillo & Kanell), which was ultimately known as The Ryen Russillo Show. He also served as both host and co-host of ESPN Radio’s NBA Sunday, The Baseball Show, NFL Draft and College GameDay, and filled in on talk shows Tirico and Van Pelt and The Herd.
ICM also has promoted three women to agent:
Celestine Au, who began her career as an ICM talent assistant in 2015 and was promoted to coordinator last year. The Hong Kong native, who was raised in Shanghai and is fluent in Mandarin, has traveled with agents to China, frequently serving as interpreter during deal negotiations and client signings. She completed 12 internships while at UCLA, where she graduated with a degree in communication studies. Au is a member of Time’s Up Next Gen.
Madeline Feder, who interned for legendary talent agent Toni Howard straight out of high school. Fluent in French, the Los Angeles native then earned a dual degree in International Business and International Film Studies from the American University of Paris and worked for the Cannes Film Festival/Marche du Film before returning to Howard’s desk at ICM, where she was promoted after a year and a half.
Viviane Telio, who graduated from Tulane with a finance degree in 2010 and worked for JP Morgan Securities before switching industries in 2014 and going to CAA. The New Orleans native became a coordinator in ICM’s motion picture literary department in 2017, following partner Spencer Baumgarten, who had identified her as a rising star at CAA before he left for ICM in late 2016.
The real Miss Korea
Korean star Hanee Lee, also known as Honey Lee or Lee Ha-nui, has signed with WME and manager David Unger of Artist International Group. While working on her master’s degree in Korean traditional music (she plays the traditional instrument gayageum), Lee, who is fluent in English, won the title of Miss Korea in 2006 and finished as third runner-up at the Miss Universe pageant the following year. In addition to serving as ambassador for Oxfam Korea, she is an actress whose credits include CJ Entertainment features Fabricated City and Heart Blackened. She next will star in comedy Extreme Job. Lee continues to be managed by Lee So-young at Korea’s Saram Entertainment.
Others on the dotted line
Gersh has signed:
Matt Billingsly, whose 2008 Black List script Code Name Veil is now set up at Black Label Media (Sicario) with Westworld director Tarik Saleh attached. He continues to be managed by Industry Entertainment.
Steve Waverly, whose screenplay Love & Oatmeal is now in postproduction as a Black Label Media feature starring Ben Platt, Lola Kirke and Yvette Nicole Brown. His other credits include episodes of the Norwegian series One Night and an installment of SXM’s 2006 anthology drama Guilty Hearts. He continues to be managed by Kaplan/Perrone.
Katz PR has signed:
Branden Wellington, who recurs as C.O. Jarod Young on Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black and has a non-news program writing Emmy for TV Dreams in a World of Sports – Kids Day Open. He has served as the New York Mets’ in-game host for the past three seasons and a sideline reporter for the NBA G-League. His other acting credits include Gotham, Blue Bloods, Younger and HBO short When It All Falls Down.
Karen Strassman, who has a recurring role on AMC’s Preacher and credits on Silicon Valley, Weeds and Workaholics. She continues to be represented by Aqua Talent and STW Talent.
Elsewhere in Rep World:
UTA Sells Significant Equity Stake to Two Outside Investors
