Giancarlo Esposito Sells Memoir After Bidding War (EXCLUSIVE)

 Posted on September 16, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  779 words  |  Jenniffer Sheldon

The 'Breaking Bad' star's as-yet-untitled book sold to The Crown Publishing Group, in partnership with Sugar23 Books.

Giancarlo Esposito is ready to tell his life story. The actor, who memorably played Gus Fring on “Breaking Bad” and its spin-off “Better Call Saul,” has sold his memoir after a bidding war. The Crown Publishing Group, in partnership with Sugar23 Books, will release the book.

Per the official description, “The memoir will explore Giancarlo’s upbringing as the second child of a black American opera singer and an Italian theatrical set builder. Born in Europe in the late 1950s and identifying as Italian, he experienced no racism that he understood until his parents moved to the States — where his complex relationship with them continued out of a one-bedroom apartment in Elmsford, New York. In a bizarre and tragic turn of events, Giancarlo became his family’s sole breadwinner at the age of eight when he was cast in a Broadway musical. After decades of awards and hundreds of roles on the large and small screen, he found himself bankrupt, living in a goat barn, divorced and unable to support his ex and four daughters. Despite all the work, Hollywood never really knew what to do with Giancarlo. Then came the call that changed his life…’Breaking Bad.'”

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As part of his recent press tour for his new AMC series “Parish,” Esposito has been very public about his life and career struggles in the years before “Breaking Bad,” and how close he was to the brink until that series turned his life around. Esposito has said much of his character and his performance in “Parish” is inspired by those times.

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Richard Pine of InkWell Management and Josh Kesselman, Giancarlo’s longtime manager, of Sugar23 spearheaded the deal. The duo previously sold Giancarlo’s graphic novel “The Venetian.” The book will be edited by Kevin Doughten, vice president and executive editor at Crown.

Esposito has been busy in 2024, as he returned to AMC as the star and executive producer of “Parish” and also had a role in the Netflix series adaptation of “The Gentlemen.” In the film world, he was seen in “Abigail,” Cannes conversation starter “Megalopolis” and the upcoming “MaXXXine.”

He is repped by Sugar23, CAA, Jackoway Austen Tyerman and imPRint.

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