Council Biography

For more than thirty years, Michael Ovitz has been involved in a wide variety of activities in the worlds of entertainment, advertising, finance, and business.

Michael Ovitz co-founded Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in 1975 and served as its Chairman until 1995. Over that 20-year period, he grew the agency from a start-up organization to the world's leading talent agency, representing more than 1,000 of the most notable actors, directors, musicians, screenwriters and other personalities in the entertainment industry.

Ovitz expanded the purview of the agency by providing a wide range of corporate consulting services and moving the agency into other areas. He also helped negotiate several major international business mergers and deals within the entertainment industry. These included Matsushita's acquisition of MCA/Universal, the financial rescue of MGM/United Artists, and Sony's acquisition of Columbia Pictures. Mr. Ovitz also served as President of the Walt Disney Company, from October 1995 to January 1997.

In January of 1999, Michael Ovitz formed CKE Companies, which is comprised of four distinct companies: Artists Management Group (AMG), Artists Production Group (APG), Artists Television Group (ATG) and Lynx Technology Group (LTG).

In starting AMG, Mr. Ovitz partnered with Rick Yorn and Julie Silverman-Yorn to form a unique management company representing actors, writers, and directors in the motion picture and television industries. In less than a year, AMG expanded its client base adding top talent in the areas of Animation, Literary, Music and Sports.

APG is the film production arm of CKE companies and is currently involved in the production of more than 25 feature films. Among the many exciting projects currently underway are two films based on Michael Crichton's "Timeline" and Tom Clancy's "Rainbow Six." In July 2000, APG entered into a joint venture with Studio Canal, the production company for global media giant Canal+. The joint venture will produce 12-15 feature films in three years. The venture represents one of the first collaborations ever between a major European studio and a U.S. production company.

Last October, Michael Ovitz and his partners formed Artists Television Group, which produces television shows and develops new media content. ATG brought together some of the most talented and successful artists in the television industry and produced 12 television pilots. An unprecedented seven pilots were picked up by each of the major networks, including "Cursed" on NBC, "The $treet" on Fox, "Grosse Pointe" on the WB, and "Madigan Men" on ABC which premiere during the fall 2000 season.

New media has been of particular interest to Michael Ovitz, which led him to form Lynx Technology Group, an investment, management and consulting company specializing in the convergence of entertainment and technology. Lynx is currently working with such companies as: Octopus, Loudcloud, Ask Jeeves, gamespy Industries, oingo, Dimension Music, campuspipeline, and Play Inc.

A Chicago native who grew up in Southern California, Mr. Ovitz is a graduate of UCLA. He began his entertainment career as a tour guide at Universal Studios and then moved to a similar job at 20th Century Fox. He later worked in the mailroom of the William Morris Agency and soon became a highly successful TV agent there before leaving with four colleagues to found CAA.

Ovitz also serves as a member of Board of Directors for J. Crew Group Inc. With his wife Judy, he is involved in numerous cultural and charitable activities. He is Chairman of the Executive Board of the UCLA Hospital and Medical Center and is heading up the Capital Campaign to raise money for a new hospital, designed by I.M. Pei. He also serves on the Executive Advisory Board of the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, the Board of Directors of D.A.R.E. America, and the National Board of Advisors for the Children's Scholarship Fund.

In addition, Mr. Ovitz is on the Board of Advisors at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Michael, Judy, and their three children live in Los Angeles.