The Hollywood Reporter has unveiled its 2019 Women in Entertainment Power 100 list. The list, THR explains, celebrates “the female players pulling in box office billions, running the streamers, sealing innovative deals, and charting the future of an industry in flux.”
Awkwafina is featured in the A-List category. After breaking out with 2018’s “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Ocean’s Eight” the multi-hyphenate showed no signs of slowing down this year. She’s been a major awards contender since her first starring vehicle, “The Farewell,” premiered at Sundance in January and her Comedy Central series, “Awkwafina is Nora from Queens,” is set to debut in 2020. She’s exec producing and writing the half-hour comedy. The rapper also has roles in a number of upcoming blockbusters, including “Jumanji: The Next Level,” Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” and Disney’s live-action take on “The Little Mermaid.”
Ava DuVernay is one of the Creative Forces being recognized. The “Wrinkle in Time” director’s limited Netflix series “When They See Us” premiered to strong ratings and reviews, and the portrait of the Exonerated Five was nominated for a whopping 16 Emmy Awards. The writer, director, and producer’s packed slate includes “Cherish the Day,” an upcoming OWN anthology that features a crew composed of 50 percent women.
The Execs category includes Beatrice Springborn, Hulu’s VP of Content Development, who THR observes helped “[usher] in a new era of Hulu comedy” this year, including “Pen15” and “Shrill.” The former, co-created by stars Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, sees the adult women playing adolescent versions of themselves, and the latter, an adaptation of Lindy West’s memoir of the same name, stars “SNL’s” Aidy Bryant as an aspiring writer who refuses to let her personal and professional future be ruined by fat-shamers. Springborn is currently in post-production on “Little Fires Everywhere,” a Hulu limited series based on Celeste Ng’s bestselling book of the same name. Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington topline the drama.
Head over to THR to check out the complete list, which includes Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and “Hustlers” writer-director Lorene Scafaria, among many others.
