Paula Wagner currently helms Chestnut Ridge Productions, developing and producing film, television, theater, and new media projects.
Wagner has worked in the top ranks of the entertainment industry as a talent agent, producer, and top studio executive. She began her career at Creative Artists Agency where she spent 15 years representing some of Hollywood's top actors, directors, and writers. In 1993, she moved on to producing and launched Cruise/Wagner Productions with her former CAA client Tom Cruise. For more than a decade, C/W produced countless critically-acclaimed films, including the Mission: Impossible franchise, Without Limits, Shattered Glass, Narc, The Others, Vanilla Sky, Elizabethtown, The Last Samurai, and Ask The Dust, and Steven Spielberg’s War Of The Worlds, which Wagner executive produced.
Wagner was co-owner and CEO of United Artists Entertainment, LLC from 2006 to 2008. During her tenure, UA released the Robert Redford political thriller Lions for Lambs and the World War II thriller Valkyrie, directed by Bryan Singer.
Prior to her career as an agent and producer, Ms. Wagner began as an actress, performing on and off-Broadway. She was also a member of the Yale Repertory Company. She is a published playwright, co-authoring the play Out Of Our Father’s House. She was a member of Actor’s Equity and Screen Actors Guild and currently, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Producers Guild of America.
