why do you lie so much? and about the weirdest little things? my mother always asked me. i don’t know, i always said. but i did know. it was very simple. because it was a better story.
warren whitaker. forty-two. academy award winning director.
wanted connections | musings
THE BASICS
𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 warren ellis whitaker 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 wren, whit, whitaker 𝒂𝒈𝒆 forty-two 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 & 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒔 cis man, he/him 𝒔𝒆𝒙𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 mostly heterosexual? 𝒐𝒄𝒄𝒖𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 actor, writer, director, producer. mostly the last three these days. 𝒉𝒐𝒃𝒃𝒊𝒆𝒔 playing soccer, attempting new recipes, listening to political podcasts 𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏(𝒔) capricorn sun, gemini moon, scorpio rising
BACKGROUND
𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 currently between bakersfield, california & los angeles, california. also has an apartment in new york, new york 𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 dutch 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 american 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉 bakersfield, california 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉 december 30, 1979 𝒆𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 bachelors of arts degree in english from columbia university 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 liam whitaker (father, age 73) , winifred whitaker (mother, age 73) , louise henry née whitaker (sister, age 47) , laurel stevenson née whitaker (sister, age 45) , wells whitaker (brother, age 41) , willem whitaker (brother, age 33) & laken whitaker (sister, age 33) — fun whitaker family fact : wren has over 10 nieces + nephews. they refer to him as uncle wren and consider him “the cool rich uncle”
BIOGRAPHY
opening with a tldr so your eyes don’t glaze over<3 ;;; warren whitaker, known as wren professionally and whit/whitaker personally, started as a comedy writer before launching his career as an actor in the SNL cast from 2003 - 2008. during this time he also starred in a few comedies / romantic comedies. in his late 20′s he shifted his focus back to his first love — writing & directing which he has been doing since then. his critically acclaimed film “ den of thieves ” managed to get him away from the comic typecast and considered with the big league directors. five years ago, he left his wife for an up and coming actress who was starring in his project at the time. about a year and a half ago, she left him to focus on her modeling career in paris, and wren returned to hims hometown of bakersfield, ca with his tail between his legs and a baby he didn’t know how to parent.
Born and raised in the evergreen (sarcasm) city of Bakersfield, California. The city that everybody loves to leave! The third of six children, three boys and three girls, and the son of Liam Whitaker himself, the largest vineyard owner in Southern California. And I said largest, not best, not richest, just the largest.
The first film he ever saw in theaters was Back to the Future, and he fell in love with the movie theaters. From then on, he begged his older sisters and his parents to take him to the movie theater as often as possible. For his seventh birthday, his mom got him a video recorder for him to make his own movies. While his father was a practical and stoic man, his mother was a creative and a visionary. And she saw that her son had that same knack for the arts.
Went to Columbia University for undergrad, where he majored in English. He also joined The Jester, the school’s comedy publication, as well as their Improv team. As a sophomore, he became a writing intern for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Later on in college, he transferred over as a writing intern to The Late Show with Conan O’Brien.
It was as an intern that Jay Leno laughed at a joke he wrote and said, “Hey, that’s actually funny kid. It’s Wren, right?” Too nervous and flustered to correct him, he nodded his head. He has been known in the entertainment industry as Wren ever since.
He graduated college in 2002 and because he was already a familiar face around 30 Rock after interning in the building for three years, it wasn’t too hard for him to get his writer’s packet on Lorne Michael’s desk. He’d made a pact with his father — he had two years to try and achieve this big dream he had of becoming a Hollywood big shot, and then he came home to Bakersfield to work on the vineyard. They needed the hands back home. So you know Wren was going to do everything in his damn power to make sure he made that dream come true in two years. Luckily for him, he got hired on as a writer for SNL right out of college, only twenty-two years old.
In one of the last few episodes of season 28, both cast members who did the Weekend Update called out sick, and Wren was thrust into the position for the episode despite his stage fright. College improv aside, he’d never done anything with an audience the scale of SNL. He had fully intended on being a behind the scenes guy, until his cameo appearance made national buzz. Who was this handsome kid Lorne Michaels was hiding from the world?
Without an audition, Wren was cast as an official cast member of Saturday Night Live starting their twenty-ninth season. He instantly became a fan favorite with his quick wit and his handsomely rugged face. Girls everywhere were fawning over him, and Wren wasn’t at all used to the attention. He’d had a couple girlfriends before, but no one was ever lining up to talk to him until then.
A year after becoming an SNL cast member, his writing and directing career pushed to the wayside, Wren was approached by a producer to audition in a new romantic comedy (heavy on the comedy) they were working on. He did, and he got the part starring opposite of a well known, and well beloved actress. The film was an instant hit — think Wedding Crashers or Along Came Polly, a very early 2000-esque comedy. This only further bolstered Wren’s career as a comedian. Throughout his time at SNL, he continued to get cast in similar comedy roles. Think Anchorman, Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, etc. Nothing that was taken very seriously, but still seemed to be universally loved…or at least loved by a bunch of frat boys across the country.
In 2006, at twenty-six years old, he met who would become his future wife. She was hosting SNL, so they had spent the week together working on material. By then, Wren had taken a backseat as a cast member and instead started focusing on writing again, and was the head writer on the show. He was still a cast member, just shifting his focus. But when he met her, he had no focus on SNL at all. He’d been in a couple of relationships, but nothing serious. He always laughed at those who said “when you know you know.” But now, he really did know. Who woulda thunk?
They started dating soon after, and Wren fell in love very quickly. She made him realize that he’d never actually been in love before, that this was the real deal. And he loved that about her. He loved everything about her. He was so enamored by her that, for the first time in his life, he wasn’t thinking about himself and his career. And that was big, considering he had been focused on his career since he first held a video camera at seven years old.
Twenty-eight was a huge year for Wren. He left SNL, he wrote, directed, and produced his first feature film, and he married the love of his life. For years to come, he’d look back at 2008 with fondness. His career altering decision turned out to be the best decision he’d ever made, resulting in an insult cult-classic comedy film that would forever be memorialized. It starred his wife, the love of his life, and his now favorite person to direct. He couldn’t imagine his life would get any better than that. And then it did. Or so, he thought it did. But when he looks back at it now, he thinks maybe that was the peak.
For the next few years, Wren continued to produce funny, yet thoughtfully genius films. They made you laugh, but they also made you cry. They made you think. They made you wonder. He had a knack for that, for writing films that seemed to make you feel every emotion on the human spectrum. At thirty-one, he tried his hand at a real, serious, drama for the first time. Den of Thieves, based on the true story of the greatest insider trading ring in financial history (think a movie similar to The Big Short or The Wolf of Wall Street). Critics called it the “sophisticated satire of the century,” and Wren was finally able to shake off the “former SNL cast member” title that had bound him to comedy for what felt like forever. Finally, he was free to do as he wanted. Finally, he was a respected director.
He churned out these films like it was easy, but the truth was, he had locked box of screenplays he’d been working on since he was as young as sixteen. Things he’d left and come back to, pieces he’d scrapped and re-scrapped. He always had something on the back of his mind, and being the workaholic and the praise addict that he was, as soon as he finished one project, he was onto the next. He never seemed to want to take a break, not even when his wife got pregnant with their first child. He was thirty-three at the time, and though he was of course ecstatic about the news, he was in the middle of working on his newest project. He should have noticed it then, the little bread crumbs that might have lead him to being a better husband. But you always notice things in hindsight, and he wouldn’t realize how absent he’d been until he looked back at it. Note to self: having a baby will not fix a marriage.
They had a girl, and they kept the Whitaker family tradition of naming the girls L names and the boys’ W names. They settled on Lennon, and Wren held her in his arms for the first time in the hospital, feeling guilty. Because he was holding his baby girl, his very first child, and the first thought that popped into his head as the doctor placed her in his arms was not look how beautiful she is, but instead a mental note for the project he was working on. call bobby later, he had thought to himself as he looked down at baby Lennon. Bobby was his business partner, and almost certainly not the man that should have been on the forefront of his mind in that moment.
So maybe he was a little work obsessed. But don’t you have to be to be brilliant? Couldn’t he thank that toxic trait of his for the two academy awards that sat next to each other on his bookshelf, and for the many other film accolades that surrounded them? He was creating art, something that lasts, something that was bigger than himself. And everyone knows those kinds of things take sacrifices, so sue him. He wasn’t gonna change a goddamn thing.
Well, he wasn’t, and then he met Serena. Serena Phillips. He and his casting director had agreed on her for the starring role of his new film. She was virtually unknown, but she had the most beautiful and yet plain face Wren had ever seen. She could play anyone with a face like that, he knew it from the moment he saw her. She could be a pop star in Hollywood or a poor girl from the Bronx. And from the moment he watched her first audition, he knew she’d become his new muse. He was thirty-seven at the time. Serena was twenty-eight.
Look, it wasn’t his best look. He knows that now. But then, he was wrapped up in all of it. Serena was beautiful and his wife didn’t look at him the same anymore. He was tired all the time because when he wasn’t working, he was taking care of a four year old. And when he wasn’t taking care of a four year old, he was working. So when late nights on set turned into dinners in the trailer turned into drinks after shoots turned into you know, i have a hotel room at The Four Seasons, well, how could you blame him? Okay, yes, you can easily blame him. But he is but a weak, weak man, who longed to be idolized, and his wife had long since idolized him.
The affair started slowly. It was emotional only, at first. They didn’t dare cross the physical line until they were sure — until Wren was sure, really. And once he did, he knew there was no going back. It was just like the first time, only entirely different. He fell hard and fast, and before he knew it he was making all sorts of promises to her. Promises he intended to keep. Promises he expected her to keep, too.
It didn’t take long for the news that he was leaving his wife to break. In fact, it happened way faster than he expected. And Wren, who hadn’t been the star of a film since he was in his early twenties, who had taken to being behind the scenes for the past decade, suddenly found himself splashed on the cover of every tabloid, on the feed of every Instagram user, on the screen of every celebrity news channel. It was breaking news. Wren even remembers scoffing at his TV before throwing his phone at the screen. Breaking News? It’s not like he’d assassinated the president. He had a hard time believing anyone could care that much about his personal life, but as the story unfolded over weeks and weeks, he began to realize that everyone cared about his personal life. But he didn’t even care. He was in love! He took Serena to Greece and they spent a month island hopping and that was his big FUCK YOU to everyone who had something to say about his life.
He and Serena never married, but they did have a child three years later. He was nearly forty, but he was in love, and this time he was determined to do it right. He was the doting husband he should have been the first time, putting aside his current project to take care of his pregnant wife girlfriend. though his last relationship was public, this one seemed to be even more prominent. people cared because he’d blown up his marriage for this, because their relationship was a news story to follow. But they were two years strong, showing up at events together, posting on Instagram together, galavanting through the world together. They had a baby girl, and Serena insisted on the name Scout. So Scout Lianne Whitaker was welcomed to the world, and for a moment, Wren was on top of the world. And then everything went to shit.
Seven months after the birth of their little Scout, Serena left for Paris. Something about a modeling job and not being ready to be a mother and needing some time. Somehow, Wren thought that maybe he could keep the situation under wraps. Maybe they could spin it. Maybe they could — well, whatever he thought was a far cry from what actually happened. The news broke, and Wren was humiliated, and his art was at stake, and everything about his life was a dumpster fire, and Bakersfield, California never looked so good. Scared, humiliated, and needing a break, Wren was on the first flight out of New York, fleeing the city like he’d fled Bakersfield all those years ago. He showed up at the vineyard with a nearly one-year old and his dignity put aside. For the first time since he was a child, he needed his mother’s wisdom. And maybe, for the first time in his life, he could use his father’s too. After all, they’d managed to stay happily married for over forty-five years now, they were doing something right. And Wren was beginning to worry that maybe love wasn’t in the cards for him.
It’s been about a year and a half since Serena skipped off to Paris, and since Wren returned to Bakersfield. He’s been living on the vineyard, laying low. He ventures into Los Angeles every so often, but he feels like nearly every time he does, he’s photographed and talked about like some recluse coming out of his cave, so he tries to avoid being seen much at all. He knows he has some work to do on himself — he should stop drinking, he should try to make amends with his ex wife, he should be a more active participant in Lennon’s life, but how? Since he was seven years old he had a checklist for his life, all the goals he needed to accomplish and the paths he needed to take to get there. Suddenly he was lost — he’d achieved his goals but at a cost, and his own actions had led to critiques about not just himself, but his art. And his art was good. His art was brilliant. He knew that. But how was he supposed to convince everyone else of that again?
HEAD CANONS
Professionally known as Wren Whitaker, so to those that don’t know him personally they’d likely call him Wren. Most people who have worked with him in the past know him as Whit or Whitaker, as most of the SNL cast referred to each other by their last names and it kind of stuck in his personal life through the years
He lived in solely in New York until he quit SNL at twenty-eight. Since then, he’s been bi-coastal. His wife and daughter Lennon lived in their home in Bel-Air, and they also had a a penthouse in New York City, where Wren tended to stay a lot because he personally preferred NYC
Huuuuuge sports guy. Absolutely loves watching sports. His teams are the LA Lakers, Barcelona FC (Messi is his GOAT), LA Dodgers, LA Kings, aaaand Greenbay Packers. His dream is to make a sports film, he’s just searching for the perfect story.
He has won 5 Academy Awards, 8 BAFTA awards, 9 Golden Globes, and 3 Emmys. Film wise, his early work more closely resembles Judd Apatow movies or Adam McKay’s early movies (a la Knocked Up, Anchor Man, 40 year old Virgin, etc). Once he tried his hand at, and saw success in drama, his work more closely resembles Damien Chazelle’s work, Steven Spielberg’s later work, or Adam McKay’s later films, very larger than life bodies of work that are intended to get people to the theaters, since that was his favorite place as a kid (a la The Big Short, Vice, Babylon, The Fablemans, The Post, etc).
Not an alcoholic, but maybe drinks a little too much whiskey when he’s stressed out. During his marriage, it turned into a terrible cycle — if he was stressed he turned to whiskey, when he drank whiskey he became very absent, when he was absent he and his wife would get in arguments, when they argued he got stressed, and back again. On particularly stressful days, he might drink up to half a bottle, or even the whole bottle, in just a night. On the bright side, some of his best ideas came up while drunk on whiskey, scribbled messily in a notebook or on a napkin only to be found the next morning and turned into a feature length film.
He’s learning how to be a good dad. Or how to be a dad at all. His older daughter, Lennon, is nine now and Scout, his younger daughter, is a little over two. Despite his absent tendencies, he has a pretty good relationship with Lennon. As good as it can be when you see your kid every other weekend. But she loves him and looks up to him, and he’s lucky in the sense that his wife graciously left their business and problems to the adults, allowing Wren to keep a relationship with his first child. Scout lives with him, though he has a lot of help from his mother.
He has a memoir in the drafts but put a pause on this after Serena left him. He’ll get it done some day, though
Yes, he ha s PR agent. The advice, at first, was just to lay low. Now that it’s been over a year, though, she’s been trying to get him back out, trying to get him to announce his new project. But for the first time, Wren is terrified of failure (a feeling he’d never really had, one of the golden tips of Improv is that you can’t be afraid to fail).
