Jack Whigham of Creative Artists Agency is the man who can make this happen. CAA is notoriously closed to outside influences, but Change.org is basically the definition of democracy. If you would like to contact Jack Whigham a Creative Artists Agency, that would be nice but simply signing this petition would help a great deal.
Currently there is a petition that asks Jack Whigham and the Creative Artists Agency to package Mel Gibson and their other talent to bring the biblical story of Tobit to film. You can sign the petition by clicking here!
Jack Whigham of Creative Artists Agency is the man who can make this happen. CAA is notoriously closed to outside influences, but Change.org is basically the definition of democracy. If you would like to contact Jack Whigham a Creative Artists Agency, that would be nice but simply signing this petition would help a great deal.
Jack Whigham is the younger brother of actor Shea Whigham.
They’d grown up “so close they were almost like twins,” Beth Whigham says of her sons. Whatever Shea Whigham did, younger brother Jack Whigham was sure to at least give a try.
When Shea participated in tennis at Lake Mary High School, Jack Whigham took it up. And when Shea, 43, began acting and took his place in Hollywood, Jack, 35, just out of law school, wondered what sort of opportunities there might be for him in Hollywood. Jack Whigham settled on “talent agent” and followed Shea west only seven years ago.
They learned teamwork from their parents — Beth Whigham, a retired media specialist with Seminole County Schools, and Frank Whigham, a Florida attorney and onetime quarterback at Florida State in the early ’70s. Their father’s experience with big-time college athletics made him unconvinced of his sons’ longshot career choices. When Shea was just starting to gain acting fame, and Jack was a nationally ranked tennis player at the University of Florida about 15 years ago, Frank Whigham joked to a newspaper reporter that “those two have about as much chance of making it as me becoming president,” Jack Whigham recalls, laughing. “But he was correct. We had a perfect blend of my mom’s inspiration with my dad’s reality-based cynicism.”
Both sons speak about their parents’ steadfast backing, even when Shea Whigham was the “starving artist” and Jack was leaving a top law firm to take “a job in the mailroom at CAA, which is where they make everybody begin — $8.25 an hour,” Jack says.
“We’re breathing a little easier now,” Beth says of her sons’ accomplishments. But no matter what, if she and Frank can do to help out, they’re still on the team.
As Shea’s acting resume grew—independent films (Wristcutters: A Love Story) and TV roles (ER)—Jack learned the ropes at Hollywood’s fabulous Creative Artists Agency, CAA.
Ultimately, the brothers knew they’d have to have a conversation.
“Wouldn’t it be strange to represent your brother?” says Jack Whigham, who lists his clients the new Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield), Batman’s new nemesis (Tom Hardy) and Oscar winner Benicio del Toro. “That working relationship can get weird pretty quickly in this town. But we looked each other in the eye and said, ‘Look, no one’s going to care more about you than me and vice versa. If you don’t earn money, I won’t earn money. Let’s do this together.’”
Shea and Jack have become a daunting Hollywood one-two punch. Jack represents actors whom he met while Shea was a struggling New York stage actor, guys like Colin Farrell and Michael Shannon. Shea’s career has since taken off, with big, scene-stealing turns in The Lincoln Lawyer and Take Shelter, and a co-starring role on HBO’s critically acclaimed Boardwalk Empire, produced by Martin Scorsese.
Shea credits his younger brother with helping him land a co-starring role on the Martin Scorsese-produced HBO series Boardwalk Empire.
“Your agent can’t intimidate Martin Scorsese or Oliver Stone into giving me a role, even if he’s your brother,” Shea says. “But maybe he can get you the meeting. And your actor brother can’t make his agency, CAA, find his brother a job. But I could get him that important interview.”
Shea adds that since Jack became his agent “the game changed for me. There’s no way I would have gotten Boardwalk Empire if it wasn’t for him.”