Artists First Signs Project Hail Mary's James Ortiz
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- Artists First has signed actor-designer-director James Ortiz for management, with Ortiz also repped by CAA and Viewpoint.
- Ortiz co-starred as Rocky, the rock-alien companion to Ryan Gosling's Ryland Grace, in Amazon MGM Studios' Project Hail Mary, directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller and adapted from Andy Weir's novel.
- Project Hail Mary grossed over $683M worldwide at the spring box office and is now streaming on Prime Video, marking a major commercial bright spot for the studio.
- Ortiz won a 2022 Drama Desk Award for his dinosaur puppet designs in Lincoln Center's Tony-nominated revival of The Skin of Our Teeth and played Milky White in the 2022 Broadway revival of Into the Woods.
- The Woodsman, Ortiz's Off-Broadway creation, earned him a 2016 Obie Award for puppet design and remains his most recognized stage work.
- Ortiz was the 2017 Eugene O'Neill residency recipient, a 2015 and 2019 Jim Henson Foundation grant awardee, and co-founder of devised-theatre group Strangemen & Co.
Why it matters: For Ortiz, the signing lands while his profile is at peak visibility — *Project Hail Mary*'s $683M global gross and ongoing Prime Video run give Artists First a multi-hyphenate client whose theatre, puppetry, and blockbuster credits span stage and screen. CAA and Viewpoint remain co-repping, signaling Ortiz is choosing to expand his management bench rather than consolidate.
