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Meet Patrick Whitesell, the high-power Hollywood agent whose wife is reportedly dating Jeff Bezoshttps://www.businessinsider.in/miscellaneous/meet-patrick-whitesell-the-high-power-hollywood-agent-whose-wife-is-reportedly-dating-jeff-bezos/slidelist/67495964.cms2019-01-12T02:05:26+05:30

Meet Patrick Whitesell, the high-power Hollywood agent whose wife is reportedly dating Jeff Bezos

Jan 12, 2019, 02:05 IST

Patrick Whitesell is the co-CEO of prominent Hollywood talent agency William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, known as WME.

Whitesell's partner and WME's other CEO is Ari Emanuel, who was reportedly the inspiration for the character Ari Gold on "Entourage."

Whitesell has been married to Lauren Sanchez, an ex-TV anchor, since 2005, and they have two children.

They reportedly separated in the fall of 2018 after 13 years of marriage.

Sanchez is now said to be dating Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who announced Wednesday that he and his wife of 25 years, MacKenzie, were getting divorced.

WME is based in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, but Whitesell and Sanchez bought a six-bedroom, $6.2 million house in Mercer Island, Washington, in late 2016, according to the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce.

Whitesell is one of Hollywood's top talent agents, having gained a reputation early on for representing younger stars including Drew Barrymore, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Jennifer Aniston.

Jude Law hired Whitesell in 2005.

Also among Whitesell's agency's A-list clients are actors like Hugh Jackman ...

... Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Michelle Williams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Whoopi Goldberg, Adam Sandler, Aziz Ansari, Kate McKinnon, and John Krasinski, star of Amazon's "Jack Ryan" series.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are two of Whitesell's longtime clients.

Whitesell was reportedly so blown away by Damon's 1992 performance in "School Ties" that he tracked him down through the Harvard University directory — where Damon was studying at the time — and called him up at his dorm to convince him to be his client.

The agency also represents musicians including Adele, Alanis Morissette, Big Sean, Bon Iver, Calvin Harris, Childish Gambino, Dolly Parton, Drake, Outkast, Pearl Jam, Selena Gomez, Janelle Monae ...

... and comedians Conan O'Brien, Amy Schumer, Nick Kroll, Pete Davidson, and Hasan Minhaj, among many others.

Whitesell graduated from Luther College, a private liberal arts college in Decorah, Iowa.

He started his career in the mailroom of InterTalent in the 1990s, then went on to become an agent at United Talent Agency (UTA). He worked his way up to being head of the talent department at Creative Artists Agency (CAA).

Whitesell left CAA to become a partner at Endeavor Talent Agency in 2001, and later played a key role in Endeavor's merger with the William Morris Agency, which became today's William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (WME).

Whitesell brought a flock of clients with him when he joined Endeavor, including Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Jon Bon Jovi, Kate Hudson, Alan Rickman, and Jon Voight.

Whitesell has been named one of Fortune's Businesspeople of the Year and one of Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business.

In 2015, Forbes estimated his net worth to be around $440 million.

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