Chris Huvane, the Management 360 partner who repped Margot Robbie, Margaret Qualley and the late Chadwick Boseman, has died, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed on Monday. He was 47.
Huvane died of an apparent suicide, according to a knowledgeable source. No date was given for his death. THR has reached out to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner.
“We are devastated beyond words this morning, Chris was simply ‘the best of the best.’ A brilliant manager, consummate colleague and friend, a rock of our company and our culture, beloved by every single person who ever met him,” Management 360 said in a statement. “It’s an incalculable loss and our hearts go out to his family and friends. We are all better for having known Chris, and we commit to honoring his legacy every day forward.”
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Huvane, a beloved figure in the industry who was passionate about artists, motorcycles, cars and boxing, also represented Julianne Moore, Jensen Ackles, Tom Hopper, Chris Messina, Zach Braff and Henry Winkler. Huvane was open about his struggles with depression.
Huvane, born in New York in June 1974, started his career at HBH Public Relations, where his brother Stephen was a partner. “I didn’t feel like I was great at it, I felt like I was good at it. And I wanted to find something I was great at,” Huvane said in a 2020 podcast about his time in PR. He joined GQ magazine and spent eight years there, working his way up to senior West Coast editor, before he pivoted to become a talent manager and joined Management 360 in 2010. (Though he said he fielded multiple inquiries from talent management companies while at GQ, he first approached Management 360 with his interest in joining.) He was promoted to partner in 2015.
“I think the most important thing for me was I always had an opinion,” Huvane said in the 2020 podcast about signing and building relationships with clients. “And I was always not afraid to share it, because there’s not a person on Earth I’m afraid to share my opinion with. And it took off from there.” After his client Boseman’s death from colon cancer in 2020, Huvane paid tribute to the Black Panther actor by getting a tattoo of Boseman on his arm. “Now you’re permanently near my heart, CB,” Huvane posted on Instagram and Facebook at the time.
For as committed as he was to shepherding the successful careers of his clients, Huvane was passionate about his time off the clock as well. He poured a lot of love into his hobbies, specifically boxing, motorcycles, tattoos and animals. In October 2020, he wrote a piece for Leo Edit on his love of motorcycles, sharing that his first purchase was a 2008 Triumph Bonneville. “I worship Steven McQueen and he rode a Triumph Scrambler in The Great Escape so of course Triumph was my first stop,” he wrote of the bike, which was part of a larger collection that he frequently rode around Los Angeles and Palm Springs.
He had an impressive Hollywood pedigree, but Huvane was known as a “guy’s guy,” someone who treated most of his friends as family and someone who was just as at home in a dive bar than on a Hollywood red carpet. He was also a loyalist who cherished long-term friendships and was known to show up for others in need, for those he knew and for some he didn’t.
Outside of Hollywood, Huvane built up several businesses including watering hole The Dime, a Fairfax Avenue staple that, over the years, has been an unofficial late night gathering spot for Hollywood insiders and music lovers. He also branched out to the desert, where he co-opened a new franchise location of Stout Burgers and Beer in a bustling plaza in downtown Palm Springs.
In July 2021, Huvane opened up about his depression on Facebook. While he regularly shared posts and offered updates about his life and projects — sharing design inspiration for a new home in Palm Springs, giving love to wife Cole, and showing off his beloved dogs Genie and Papi — Huvane had rarely shared something so personal. Accompanied by a picture of him volunteering with Habitat for Humanity as part of an outing with his company, Management 360, he wrote, “I remember this day vividly. It was week four of a crippling depression that lasted for a long time and still leaves me with shrapnel to this day. I was finding it hard to find motivation to live despite having an abundance of reasons to live. Brain was wired incorrectly causing me to have panic attacks for the first time in my forty-four years.”
He referenced a breakdown and opened up about how his struggles led him to retreat from social settings. But giving back provided a boost that he needed. “Finding a little motivation helped. It actually got worse for me after this exact day but seeing the photo really reminded me of that time in my life. Moral of the today is that shit can and will get better. You will need a lot of help from a lot of people. Learn to trust. You all know who you are.”
On Monday, Halt and Catch Fire co-creator and showrunner Christopher Cantwell, a former client, called Huvane a “lionhearted man” who was “fearless in his career and in his life.” Cantwell added, “He was frank and honest in a business when many are not, he was exceptionally kind, he was remarkably open about his struggles and wore himself on his sleeve.” Former client Winkler called Huvane’s death “heartbreaking” and said, “Chris was so thoughtful and knowledgeable and such a compassionate caretaker .. He is now Free.” Actor and Management 360 client Theo Rossi said Huvane was “greatly appreciated and honored by myself and my family,” while American Hustle and Suicide Squad producer Andy Horwitz called him “the best of the best in Hollywood… I can honestly say there was nobody else like him.”
Late Monday, Slate PR posted a tribute to Huvane as the PR firm was co-founded by his brother, Stephen Huvane. “Slate PR is devasted by the loss of our brother and friend Chris Huvane. The kindest and gentlest man any of us had the good fortune to have known and loved,” reads the post that was commented on by Gwyneth Paltrow (“This is beyond heartbreaking) and Amy Brenneman (“My heart is split open”), among many others.
Survivors include his wife, Cole Huvane; his siblings, Slate PR partner Stephen Huvane, CAA managing partner Kevin Huvane, Denise Whalen, Michael Huvane and Robert Huvane; his father, Martin Huvane; his nephew, Declan Huvane; and his former sister-in-law, Ruth Ann Huvane.
If you or anyone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
