Paula Wagner

Paula Wagner
Wagner in 2012
Born
Paula Sue Kauffman

(1946-12-12) December 12, 1946
Youngstown, Ohio, U.S.
EducationCarnegie Mellon University (BFA)
OccupationFilm producer
Spouse(s)Robin Wagner (divorced)
​
(m. 1984)​
Children2


Early life

Paula Wagner is an American film producer, talent agent, and studio executive. After beginning her professional career in Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theatre, she joined Creative Artists Agency as one of the first female agents, where she represented major entertainment talent including Tom Cruise.[1][2] In 1993, Wagner and Cruise co-founded Cruise/Wagner Productions.[3] She later served as co-owner and chief executive officer of United Artists Entertainment and has continued to produce film, television, and theatre projects through Chestnut Ridge Productions.[3] Her producing credits include the Mission: Impossible film series, Pretty Woman: The Musical, and the stage adaptation of HIGH NOON.[3][4][5]


Career

Early career

In her early career in New York, Wagner played several ensemble parts in the 1971 stage production of Lenny.[6] Some of her additional credits include the role of Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream at Yale Repertory Theatre[7] as well as Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Cleveland Play House. Her first marriage, to set designer Robin Wagner, brought her into the industry's A-list circles; she was present when director Michael Bennett shared ideas with Robin for A Chorus Line".[8]

Agent and film producer

After her work on the stage, Wagner became a talent agent at the boutique talent agency, Susan Smith and Associates in Los Angeles. Subsequently, Wagner was hired in the talent department at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in Los Angeles, where she signed and represented Tom Cruise.[9] In July 1992, after representing Cruise for eleven years, she and Cruise co-founded the independent film production company Cruise/Wagner Productions.[10][11][12] For the next fourteen years, Wagner and Cruise produced a wide range of films that earned numerous awards and widespread critical praise, and were global box office successes. The first film released under the C/W Productions banner was the international hit Mission: Impossible, the success of which brought the company the 1997 Producers Guild of America's Nova Award for Most Promising Producers in Theatrical Motion Pictures.

In addition to the two subsequent films in the Mission: Impossible film series (Mission: Impossible 2 and Mission: Impossible III), C/W Productions went on to produce such films as The Others, The Last Samurai, Vanilla Sky, Without Limits, Shattered Glass, Narc, Elizabethtown, and Ask the Dust, as well as Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds (which Wagner executive produced). In all, films produced by C/W Productions earned more than $2.9 billion in worldwide box office receipts.[13]

Wagner continues to work as a film producer and studio executive, developing films, theatre, and television through her company Chestnut Ridge Productions.[8]

Through Chestnut Ridge Productions, her most recent film was Marshall, starring Chadwick Boseman, Josh Gad, Kate Hudson, and Sterling K. Brown; a story of a true law case early in the career of Thurgood Marshall. The movie was critically acclaimed and was nominated for one Academy Award.

Theatre producer

Wagner's theatre producing credits include The Heiress, Grace, Mothers and Sons, and Pretty Woman: The Musical.[3] Pretty Woman: The Musical, based on the 1990 film, opened on Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre in August 2018 after a pre-Broadway engagement in Chicago.[4] The production featured a book by Garry Marshall and J. F. Lawton, direction and choreography by Jerry Mitchell, and an original score by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance.[4] Carnegie Mellon University later reported that the production had reached 300 performances, broken four house records, and expanded to Hamburg, the West End, and a U.S. national tour.[2][14]

Wagner also produced the stage adaptation of HIGH NOON, written by Eric Roth.[15][16] The project was initially announced for Broadway in 2022, with Michael Arden attached to direct.[15][16] It later received its world premiere in London's West End at the Harold Pinter Theatre, where performances began on December 17, 2025, in a production directed by Thea Sharrock and starring Billy Crudup and Denise Gough.[5]

Other producing

In addition to her work in film and theatre, Wagner also has produced for television and numerous awards ceremonies. She was an executive producer on the critically acclaimed and award winning Lifetime original movie Five, five short films directed by five female directors. She produced the Governors Awards ceremony for the Motion Picture Academy in 2013 and produced both the 2011 and 2012 Producers Guild of America Award show.[17][18][19]

Wagner served on the board of the National Film Preservation Foundation through the Library of Congress and Carnegie Mellon University, where she received her degree and is an adjunct faculty member in the Master in Entertainment Industry Management program through the Heinz College.[20]

Wagner is a member of the American Cinematheque's Board of Directors[21] and the Executive Committee of the UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television.[22] She is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the Producers Guild of America (PGA), The Broadway League and is an ambassador of ReFrame for Women In Film, a formal action plan to further gender parity in the media industry.[23]

Awards and accolades

Wagner was honored by Premiere magazine with the Women in Hollywood Icon Award in 2001.[24] In October 2006, she received the Sherry Lansing Award from the Big Brothers and Big Sisters Organization.[25] She was also honored by the Costume Designers Guild with its Swarovski President's Award in 2008.[26] In 2012, she was an honoree at the Deauville Film Festival.[27][28] She was one of the recipients of the Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards in 2016,[29] and the Camerimage Producer with Unique Visual Sensitivity award in 2017.[30] Her film Marshall won the Chicago “audience film festival award”.[31]

Personal life

Wagner is married to Rick Nicita, CEO of management and production company RP Media.

Filmography

She was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.

Film

Year Film Credit Notes
1996 Mission: Impossible
1998 Without Limits
2000 Mission: Impossible 2
2001 The Others Executive producer
Vanilla Sky
2002 Narc Executive producer
2003 Shattered Glass Executive producer
The Last Samurai
2004 Suspect Zero
2005 War of the Worlds Executive producer
Elizabethtown
2006 Ask the Dust
Mission: Impossible III
2008 The Eye
Death Race
2010 Death Race 2 Executive producer Direct-to-video
2012 Jack Reacher
2016 Jack Reacher: Never Go Back Executive producer
2017 Marshall
Miscellaneous crew
Year Film Role
1995 Murder in the First Project consultant

Television

Year Title Credit Notes
2011 Five Executive producer Television film
2022 Reacher Executive producer
Miscellaneous crew
Year Title Role
2008 Jammin' Travel coordinator
As an actress
Year Title Role
1977 Space Academy Gina Corey
1978 Loose Change Roxanne
As writer
Year Title
1978 Great Performances

References

  1. ^ "Hollywood Comes Home". Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
  2. ^ a b "Wagner's "Pretty Woman" a Record-breaker on Broadway". Carnegie Mellon University. May 28, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
  3. ^ a b c d "Paula Wagner". USC School of Dramatic Arts. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
  4. ^ a b c "Read Reviews for Pretty Woman: The Musical on Broadway". Playbill. August 16, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
  5. ^ a b "Billy Crudup and Denise Gough Will Star in High Noon in London". Playbill. September 14, 2025. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
  6. ^ "Lenny – Broadway Play – Original | IBDB".
  7. ^ "A Midsummer Night's Dream at Yale Repertory Theatre 1975".
  8. ^ a b Healy, Patrick, "Hollywood Player Joins the Club on Broadway", New York Times, November 1, 2012. "Paula Wagner turns to producing on Broadway." Retrieved November 4, 2012.
  9. ^ "Hollywood Flashback: Tom Cruise Reveals How He Landed His First Hollywood Agent at 19". The Hollywood Reporter. July 20, 2016.
  10. ^ "Cruise makes a picture deal". NewspaperARCHIVE.com. Lima News. November 4, 1992. p. A4.
  11. ^ "The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California on July 13, 1992 · Page 152". Newspapers.com. July 13, 1992. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  12. ^ "Tom Cruise forms his own film company". Evening Standard. Newspapers.com. July 14, 1992. p. 12. ISSN 2041-4404. Retrieved February 26, 2022. Scroll down to 'Show 12 article text'
  13. ^ "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. :: MGM Partners with Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner to Form New United Artists". sev.prnewswire.com. Archived from the original on September 29, 2008. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  14. ^ "'Pretty Woman: The Musical' Sets First International Production". Deadline. December 13, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
  15. ^ a b "Michael Arden to Direct Stage Adaptation of High Noon On Broadway in 2023". Playbill. July 26, 2022. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
  16. ^ a b "'High Noon' On Broadway: Stage Adaptation Set For 2023". Deadline. July 27, 2022. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
  17. ^ "Paula Wagner to Produce 2013 Governors Awards". August 21, 2014.
  18. ^ "PGA ANNOUNCES THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURE AND LONG-FORM TELEVISION NOMINATIONS FOR 2012 PGA AWARDS - Producers Guild of America". www.producersguild.org. Archived from the original on January 8, 2012.
  19. ^ "Paula Wagner to Produce PGA Awards". August 5, 2010.
  20. ^ "May 7: Hollywood Producer Paula Wagner to Deliver Keynote Address for Tepper School of Business Diploma Ceremony - Carnegie Mellon University | CMU".
  21. ^ "About".
  22. ^ "Paula Wagner". UCLA School of TFT.
  23. ^ "ReFrame Pushes for More Inclusive Hiring in Hollywood with New Handbook".
  24. ^ "LOS ANGELES, CA. October 22, 2001: Producer PAULA WAGNER at Premiere Magazine's Women in Hollywood luncheon at the Four Seasons Hotel, Beverly Hills. She was honored with the magazine's Icon Award. © Paul Smith/Featureflash Stock Photo - Alamy".
  25. ^ "CLIPS". The Hollywood Reporter. October 24, 2008.
  26. ^ "Paula Wagner Photostream".
  27. ^ "Deauville American Film Festival to Step up Its Industry Angle". The Hollywood Reporter. June 29, 2012.
  28. ^ "The festival".
  29. ^ Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards
  30. ^ "PAULA WAGNER WITH CAMERIMAGE PRODUCer's AWARD – EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2021".
  31. ^ "53rd Festival - Top Audience Awards Winners". October 30, 2017.
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