TheGrio's 100: Charles King, from mailroom to Hollywood mogul

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It was one of the pre-millennial stories you didn’t hear about: In 1999, Charles King, an assistant at William Morris who started (like so many others) in the mailroom, became the first black agent in the history of arguably the most prestigious talent agency in Hollywood.

In defense of his or her clients’ best interests, a reliable Hollywood agent calls on a variety of skills: they’re part P.T. Barnum, part Machiavelli, part enforcer, and all champion. Ten years on, Charles King wears these multiple fedoras as well as any one in the upper echelons of the entertainment industry.

As an agent at William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (arguably the major player in Hollywood artist representation), King has parlayed a passion for the business, a feverish work ethic and a conviction of the marketability of the spectral African-American experience into a rare position as an African-American with leverage, wide and deep, in the workings of modern Hollywood.

Two of his most celebrated clients reflect King’s success. Terrence Howard, an actor of panoramic skills in a wide range of dramas, counts King as his agent. And so does Tyler Perry, one-man industry and the current reigning supernova.

Orchestrating deals in series television and feature films, King was instrumental in helping Perry gain a level of creative autonomy — production, writing, directing and acting — unprecedented for an African-American filmmaker. This hasn’t stopped King from agitating more widely on behalf of black and minority actors.

“I’ve had conversations where people say, ‘I can’t find the people,’ and, ‘Where are they?’” he told the Hollywood Reporter in November 2005. “To me, that is absolutely absurd.”

“Once you’ve identified those people [that want to be in this industry], the most crucial part is mentorship,” King told the Reporter. “There are very few executives that can make it through this town without some sort of mentorship or sponsorship, and I think it’s even that much harder for people from a diverse background if they don’t have that.”