Director Matt Lenski has joined the roster of Arts & Sciences for U.S. representation. He has already wrapped his first project for the company: an integrated campaign for Smirnoff from 72andSunny that features Silicon Valley’s Thomas Middleditch and T.J. Miller, who spontaneously leave the set and take a road trip across the country to go to Comic Con. Prior to coming aboard Arts & Sciences, Lenski was with Supply&Demand.
Known for his comedy work and strong characters, Lenski has directed spots for such clients as ESPN, EA Sports, Sauza Tequila, and H&R Block. “Matt’s ability to elevate ideas and bring a unique, strong point of view to each project is something we were drawn to,” said Mal Ward, managing director, Arts & Sciences.
Lenski is also a successful TV and film director. His short film Meaning of Robots premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and SXSW, was honored at The Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s New Directors/New Films, and came up a winner at the Nashville Film Festival. He is currently in development on a television series based on his web-series adaptations of the comic book The Perry Bible Fellowship (PBF). Lenski’s PBF web films screened at the 2015 Ted Talks, and garnered a Vimeo Staff Pick.
Lenski began his career at MTV in the On Air Promos department where he wrote and directed campaigns for assorted series and received a GLAAD award for his pro-social work for the network. He is an MTV Video Music Award winner and has directed videos for artists such as Band of Horses, Regina Spektor, Mark Ronson and Fall Out Boy (winner of an MTV Video Music Award). His music videos have landed spots on broadcast networks and have earned well over 60 million hits on YouTube.
A native New Yorker, Lenski studied at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute and The Department of Theatre, Film & Dance at Cornell University.
James Earl Jones, Lauded Actor and Voice of Darth Vader, Dies At 93
James Earl Jones, who overcame racial prejudice and a severe stutter to become a celebrated icon of stage and screen — eventually lending his deep, commanding voice to CNN, "The Lion King" and Darth Vader — has died. He was 93.
His agent, Barry McPherson, confirmed Jones died Monday morning at home in New York's Hudson Valley region. The cause was not immediately clear.
The pioneering Jones, who was one of the first African American actors in a continuing role on a daytime drama and worked deep into his 80s, won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors and was given an honorary Oscar and a special Tony for lifetime achievement. In 2022, a Broadway theater was renamed in his honor.
He cut an elegant figure late in life, with a wry sense of humor and a ferocious work habit. In 2015, he arrived at rehearsals for a Broadway run of "The Gin Game" having already memorized the play and with notebooks filled with comments from the creative team. He said he was always in service of the work.
"The need to storytell has always been with us," he told The Associated Press then. "I think it first happened around campfires when the man came home and told his family he got the bear, the bear didn't get him."
Jones created such memorable film roles as the reclusive writer coaxed back into the spotlight in "Field of Dreams," the boxer Jack Johnson in the stage and screen hit "The Great White Hope," the writer Alex Haley in "Roots: The Next Generation" and a South African minister in "Cry, the Beloved Country."
He was also a sought-after voice actor, expressing the villainy of Darth Vader ("No, I am your father," commonly misremembered as "Luke, I am your father"), as... Read More