Rocco Landesman is a theatrical producer and part-owner of Jujamcyn Theaters, the group responsible the minor hit The Producers, among many, many others, but this took the backseat when he was appointed the chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts by President Obama in 2009.

Landesman grew up in St. Louis, where his father and uncle owned the Crystal Palace cabaret, giving young Rocco an early intro to stars like Barbra Streisand and Mike Nichols. With a doctorate from the Yale School of Drama in hand, Landesman teamed up with the production company Dodger Theatricals. With Dodger, Landesman co-produced the retro musical Pump Boys and Dinettes in 1982 and the Tony-winning Big River in 1985. In 1987, he became president at Jujamcyn Theaters, the owner of five Broadway venues (the St. James, the Eugene O'Neill, the Al Hirschfeld, the Walter Kerr and the August Wilson) and the third-biggest Broadway theater owner behind the Shubert and Nederlander organizations. The play that established Jujamcyn as a force to be reckoned with was David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly, which took home the Tony for Best Play in 1988. Over the next decade and a half, Landesman produced dozens of plays and musicals under the Jujamcyn banner, including hits like 42nd Street, Tony Kushner's Angels in America, Grease, Kiss Me, Kate, Proof, Urinetown, Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, Jersey Boys, Grey Gardens, and Spring Awakening.

Following the death of Jujamcyn's chairman Jim Binger in 2005, Landesman bought a majority of the company, while Broadway producers Tom Viertel, Paul Libin and Daryl Roth's son Jason Roth make up the rest of the ownership. However, since 2009 Landesman has become a passive owner of the franchise, as his appointment in Washington as the chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts keeps him busy in Washington. [Image via Getty]