Lupita Nyong’o to Ayo Edebiri: Del Shaw Moonves Celebrates 35 Years of Representing the Underrepresented
variety.comTodd Longwell In many ways, the founders of what is today known as Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein Lezcano Bobb & Dang were like any other ambitious young attorneys when they launched the firm back in 1989. “There’s always an inclination to want to start your own business and be the captains of your ship, the makers of your own destiny,” says Nina Shaw, who was one of the original partners, alongside founder emeritus Ernie Del and current partner Jean Tanaka. “And we wanted to be within the group of boutique firms that even then were preeminent in the talent representation business.” But there was also another goal in mind.
Too often, Shaw found that she was the only woman or person of color — never mind Black woman — in the room. So it was baked into the firm’s DNA that it would represent the underrepresented, in its staff and its clients, as well as in the larger legal and entertainment communities.
Today, Del Shaw’s staff is 62.5% women and 57.5% people of color, and the firm has a long history of cutting game-changing deals for a diverse roster of clients that includes Cedric the Entertainer, Ayo Edebiri, Paul Reiser, Lena Waithe, Warner Bros.
TV Group chair and CEO Channing Dungey, FX Networks chairman John Landgraf, Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o, filmmakers Reggie Rock Bythewood and Gina Prince-Bythewood, and model and TV personality Chrissy Tiegen and her husband, musician and EGOT club member John Legend.
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