Jimmy Villarreal
Jimmy Villarreal co-owns Urge Artists Entertainment. Urge is growing rapidly and not only has a special appearance, branding and endorsement division but has recently merged with Talent Manager Diane Perez who has brought her high profile talent list to Urge.
Previous to working at Urge Artists Entertainment Villarreal worked at Identity Talent Agency where he was the head of their Commercial & Celebrity Endorsements Division. Identity agency soon merged with Metropolitan, one of LA’s top ten talent agencies at the time, where Jimmy incorporated Branding & Marketing. His talent roster consisted of major prime time celebrities including actors from sitcoms on major networks such as ABC, CBS FOX and NBC and all major cable networks.
His client roster expanded and included many well-respected TV and film celebrities. The division represented Vivica Fox, booking her for a major hosting role. Also, LeAnn Rimes endorsed a Christmas MasterCard event in New York City, where she performed her new album. Tracy Lawrence’s most recent national campaign, his CD release and NFL promotion for Time Warner.
Villarreal’s career began when he launched his own talent management company called Villarreal Ventures Management. As a director of special events, he began working with an impressive list of celebrities, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Matthew McConaughey, Oscar De La Hoya, Paris Hilton, Cris Judd, Esai Morales, Mario Lopez, Jose Canseco, Steven Lawrence (Even Stevens), Kimberly Caldwell (American Idol), Kelly Monaco (Dancing with the Stars) and many other personalities. Within one year of starting his company, Villarreal Ventures Management merged with aLine Media, a successful public relations firm.
Combining the best of two worlds, Hollywood and his home state of Texas, Jimmy Villarreal was born into show business through his family’s San Antonio-based business of custom boot-making for big-name celebrities and who has also had a substantial acting career.
Diane Perez
Diane Perez has more than 20 years in the entertainment business. She started her training in the mailroom at the William Morris Agency, but moved up quickly to become assistant agent.
Diane then went to Cunningham Escott Slevin Doherty, one of the largest commercial agencies in the country. After a couple of years there Diane was asked to co-head the voice over division. In addition to those responsibilities, Diane also created the adult theatrical department and the Latin division.
Although she was extremely successful at CESD, Diane set her sights on a warmer climate and relocated to Los Angeles to become a manager with the legendary producer and manager Hilly Elkins. While working with Hilly Elkins, Diane was offered a position to head up a division of J. Michael Bloom and Associates, returning to her agency roots. A year after J. Michael Bloom and associates closed its doors, Diane and a few of her colleagues were invited to start up another talent agency named MKS and Associates.
Following September 11th, Diane decided that she wanted to return to management in order to focus on a few individual talent, and in October of 2001, she opened her management company.
Diane feels that in order to give each client the time and attention they deserve and to best utilize her talents and expertise, she keeps her client list small.
Due to the success of the company and a client list encompassing both coasts, Diane Perez Entertainment will be opening a New York office next year. Diane is currently co-producing two feature films with her clients.