Meet the Major Players of Hulu’s Theranos Drama ‘The Dropout’
As Elizabeth Holmes gears up for a landmark fraud trial, Hulu is filling out the cast of its upcoming drama, The Dropout, a limited series about the Theranos founder’s rise and fall.
Created by New Girl’s Liz Meriwether, based on the ABC News podcast of the same name, and produced by Disney’s 20th Television, The Dropout “will explore what caused the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire, once heralded as ‘the next Steve Jobs,’ to lose everything in the blink of an eye,” as Disney touted in a press release.
Below, we compare cast members of The Dropout to the real-life figures they’re playing, starting with the famous film actress who replaced Saturday Night Live‘s Kate McKinnon in the lead role.
The Dropout, TBA, Hulu
Amanda Seyfried…
After appearing on TV shows like Veronica Mars and Big Love, Seyfried became a movie star with major roles, most notably in musical flicks Mamma Mia! and Les Misérables. Her performance as real-life actress Marion Davies in the film Mank earned her an Oscar nomination earlier this year.
…as Elizabeth Holmes
Holmes, the founder of Theranos, is facing two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud for allegedly making false claims and omitting information about the company’s blood-testing technology in schemes to defraud investors, doctors, and patients, per the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Naveen Andrews…
…as Sunny Balwani
Balwani was president and chief operating officer of Theranos, and he also had a romantic relationship with Holmes, per Business Insider. He’s facing the same charges as Holmes, and they each face a maximum of 20 years in prison for each count. Her trial is scheduled to begin on August 31; his is scheduled for next January.
Laurie Metcalf…
Metcalf stars as Jackie Harris on the ABC comedy The Conners, a role that earned her three Emmy nominations during the run of predecessor sitcom Roseanne. The actress has also earned Emmy noms for her work on shows like Desperate Housewives, Monk, and The Big Bang Theory.
…as Phyllis Gardner
Gardner is a Stanford University professor of clinical pharmacology who met Holmes when the Theranos founder was a Stanford student. She tried to tell Holmes, then 19, that her ideas were impossible, according to The Mercury News.
Dylan Minnette…
Minnette is best known for starring as Clay Jensen in the Netflix teen drama 13 Reasons Why. On the big screen, he has appeared in the movies Prisoners, Goosebumps, and Don’t Breathe.
…as Tyler Shultz
Tyler Shultz was a Theranos employee who blew the whistle on the company’s research practices and quality-control checks, taking his concerns first to Holmes, and then to New York’s public-health lab in the first known regulatory complaint about Theranos’ lab work, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Sam Waterston…
TV fans know Waterston as Jack McCoy from the long-running NBC legal drama Law & Order — or, perhaps, as Sol Bergstein from the Netflix comedy Grace and Frankie. His recent films, meanwhile, include Miss Sloane and On the Basis of Sex.
…as George Shultz
George Shultz, who died this February at age 100, was secretary of state under Ronald Reagan and secretary of the treasury under Richard Nixon. He became a Theranos director late in his life, and his relationship with Tyler, his grandson, became tense after Tyler raised concerns about the company, the Journal reported.
Anne Archer…
Archer earned Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for playing Beth Gallagher in the 1987 film Fatal Attraction, and her other screen credits include the films Patriot Games, Short Cuts, and Clear and Present Danger.
…as Charlotte Shultz
Charlotte Shultz, San Francisco’s longtime chief of protocol, is George Shultz’s widow. They wed in 1997.
Hart Bochner…
On the big screen, Bochner appeared in Supergirl, Die Hard, The Innocent, and the Carrie remake. On the small screen, he starred in USA’s romantic comedy The Starter Wife and recurred in the Amazon crime drama Too Old to Die Young, among other credits.
…as Larry Ellison
Ellison, co-founder and former CEO of software company Oracle Corporation, was one of Theranos’ investors, according to The New York Times. He also was one of Holmes’ advisors, as Bad Blood author John Carreyou told Vox.
Kurtwood Smith…
Smith is perhaps best known for playing temperamental father Red Forman in the Fox sitcom That ‘70s Show, though his other TV credits of late include starring roles in the ABC drama Resurrection and the Amazon dramedy Patriot.
…as David Boies
Boies is a famed lawyer who represented Theranos and served on the company’s board of directors. According to the Journal, lawyers from Boies’ firm pressured Tyler Shultz to admit he had talked to a reporter, though one partner from the firm told the Journal they “engaged with Tyler in an effort to understand the extent to which he had disclosed trade secrets to third parties.”
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