Michael Buckner Leadership can mean leveraging one success to create the next — and navigating hundreds of crucial steps in between. It can also mean being the best team player you can be, finding the right story, signing the right client, packaging the right product or developing the right promotional campaign. Variety’s annual New Leaders list celebrates the individuals who provide the connective tissue between idea and execution, messenger and message, property and platform. The honorees — all 40 or under — selected in 2026 represent advancement, innovation, achievement and excellence across a broad spectrum of disciplines, from social media and legal strategy to production, personnel management, artist development and strategic partnerships.
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Cara Alpert
Image Credit: Michael Buckner Agent, UTA
Alpert signed Meg Stalter when she was a rising comedy star on the internet — landing a career-changing role on “Hacks” and a starring role in Broadway’s “Oh, Mary!” She has also identified breakout talent like Kareem Rahma, while guiding the careers of Fortune Feimster, Leanne Morgan, Connor Hines and Gabby Windey. She signed Veronika Slowikowska, who recently had a breakout season on “Saturday Night Live,” after discovering her on Instagram; and works as Curry Barker’s talent agent helping secure his role in “Anything but Ghosts.” App I can’t live without: “Uber. I’m an objectively terrible driver, and I’ve made peace with that.”
