ON ELORDI: RALPH LAUREN BLAZER, UNIQLO SHIRT, LEVI JEANS, YSL BOOTS, ROLEX WATCH. NICHOLSON: KEVORK DJANSEZIAN/GETTY IMAGES. PA
ULSON: RACHEL LUNA/FILMMAGIC. RYDER:
MICHAEL TRAN/FILMMAGIC. RYLANCE: ANDREAS RENTZ/GETTY IMAGES. MOCK: JOHN LAMPARSKI/GETTY IMAGES. ANDERSON: MARC PIASECKI/WIREIMA
GE. ADAMS: DAN MACMEDAN/GETTY IMAGES.
81
executive team at Funny or Die that
has been helping the comedy com-
pany navigate the turbulent digital
space. Under his watch, they’ve
built out a slate of digital shows like
Under a Rock With Tig Notaro and
Cooking With Jeff Goldblum. While
digital distribution has evolved since
Funny or Die first went live with
shorts like The Landlord, To o m b s
notes, “What hasn’t changed is that
what’s good is good. Good creators,
good writers, good talent still break
through.” The Indiana University
grad, who is expecting his second
child with his wife, Aynsley, also
established an in-house creative
agency, which handles social and
influencer marketing for Funny or
Die-produced shows like American
Vandal and No Activity.
TALENT I’M DYING TO WORK WITH
LeBron James
SADAO TURNER // 34
V P of Social Media,
Westbrook Media
It was Turner who got the call in 2017
when Will Smith’s manager, Miguel
Melendez, wanted to introduce the
actor to YouTube and Instagram.
The Los Angeles native, who grew
up around the industry thanks to
his mother, a model, actress and
hatmaker, had already built his
digital bona fides at Ryan Seacrest
Productions, where he developed
an online and social strategy for the
host’s radio show and other media
properties. The Cal State Northridge
dropout had wanted to be a director
of photography but says he “never
really had the patience for film” and
enjoyed digital’s fast pace. With
Smith, the goal was to create an
online identity driven by his focus on
entertaining, inspiring and instruct-
ing audiences. Today Smith, who
has 39 million Instagram followers
and 7 million YouTube subscribers, is
considered one of the most social-
media-savvy entertainers around.
“Will’s personality was perfect for
social media long before he was ever
on social media,” says Turner, who
through Smith’s Westbrook Media
now also oversees the social strat-
egy for Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red
Table Talk, Jaden Smith’s Just Water
brand and actor John Boyega.
THE PERSON I’D SWITCH JOBS WITH FOR
A DAY “[Twitter CEO] Jack Dorsey, so
I can add an ‘edit tweet’ feature, at
least for a day.”
Kaitlyn Dever^ / 22
The Texas-raised actress
has been working steadily
in Hollywood since she was
11 years old. Dever, who
was born to figure skater
parents (her dad went on to
voice both Barney the dino-
saur and Bob the Builder
later in his career), spent
several years moving fluidly
between roles on the small
screen (Justified, Last Man
Standing) and the big (The
Spectacular Now, Short
Te rm 1 2). But between
back-to-back leading parts
in critical hits Booksmart
and Unbelievable, 2019
was a banner year for her.
Next up for Dever is B.J.
Novak’s FX limited series
Platform opposite Lucas
Hedges and Annapurna-
produced horror anthology
Monsterland for Hulu.
LAST SHOW I BINGED
Euphoria
ONSCREEN CHARACTER I
MOST IDENTIFIED WITH AS
A KID “Anthony Michael Hall
in every John Hughes film.”
“My family is a
big sailing family —
my dad’s a boat
builder, my sister is
an amazing sailor
— and I sucked,”
says Charlie Barnett
(left, with Jacob
Elordi and Kaitlyn
Dever). “I had to find
something to do,
so my mom put me
in opera camp.
And I got the bug.”
Jack Nichhoolsoon
Margaret Qualley
Sarah Paulsoon
Kaitlyn Dever
WinoonaRRyydeer
Barbie Ferreira
Markk Ryllaancce
Jonathan Majors
Jannet MMoockk
Hunter Schafer
WesAndeersoon
Ella Balinska
Amyy Addaamss
Tay l o r R u s s e l l
The person
I’m dying to
work with ...