Ryan Kavanaugh is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Relativity, a next-generation studio. The company is engaged in multiple aspects of entertainment, including film and television financing, production and distribution; music publishing; sports management and digital media. Kavanaugh is a highly successful producer and global expert in film finance. Under his leadership, Relativity has produced, distributed or structured financing for more than 200 motion pictures generating more than $17 billion in worldwide box-office revenue and earning 60 Oscar® nominations.
Among the newest Relativity films Kavanaugh has produced or executive produced are McG's Three Days to Kill, starring Kevin Costner; Scott Cooper's Out of the Furnace, with Christian Bale and Zoe Saldana; and Luc Besson's The Family, starring Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones.
Previous Relativity productions include Safe Haven, directed by Lasse Hallström; Mirror Mirror, starring Julia Roberts; Immortals, which grossed more than $225 million worldwide; Neil Burger's thriller Limitless, starring Bradley Cooper; David O. Russell's The Fighter, which earned seven Oscar nominations and won two; and David Fincher's The Social Network (executive producer), which received eight Oscar nominations.
Kavanaugh began his entertainment industry career as the architect of innovative slate-financing arrangements for a number of major studios. He crafted feature-film funding structures for Sony, Universal, Warner Bros. and others, introducing more than $10 billion in capital to the sector. Relativity evolved from a finance and production company into a full-fledged movie studio after Kavanaugh led its acquisition of Overture Films' marketing and distribution operations in 2010. He further strengthened the studio's distribution network by negotiating a first-of-its-kind television deal with Netflix, forging a strategic partnership with Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Mobile and Virgin Produced and overseeing the studio's aggressive expansion into China.
Kavanaugh's work has garnered numerous accolades. In 2011 he was named Variety's Showman of the Year. The Hollywood Reporter honored him with its 2010 Leadership Award and he was honored with the 2009 Hollywood Producer of the Year Award at the 13th Annual Hollywood Awards Gala. In a special issue dedicated to him, Variety recognized Kavanaugh as a "Billion Dollar Producer."
A devoted philanthropist, Kavanaugh serves as chairman of the board for The Art of Elysium, an organization that encourages artists to donate their time and talents to children battling serious medical conditions. He is a recipient of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Board of Governors' Hollywood Humanitarian Award and the Anti-Defamation League's 2011 Entertainment Industry Award. In recognition of his dedication to helping inner-city youth, he was presented with the Sheriff's Youth Foundation Community Champion Award.
