Taft Medal honoree cherishes successful career’s winding road

Receiving his alma mater's highest alumni honor in Cincinnati Music Hall compelled the multi-talented Darrell Miller to open his acceptance remarks with a brief, inspiring, a capella selection from a Puccini opera. Photo/UC Alumni Association

What made it so unexpected was that, while Miller was being honored for his work in Hollywood, he is a lawyer, not a singer - at least not anymore. He represents and makes career-advancing deals for movers and shakers in the entertainment industry, and is recognized as one of the best in his profession: A Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association's Hall of Fame inductee, Variety's 2025 Power of Law honoree, a National Law Journal "Sports & Entertainment Law Trailblazer," one of the "Top 100 Lawyers in California" according to the Los Angeles Business Journal. But part of the reason he's so good at it is that he's been on the "creative side" of the equation. He understands what his clients are all about.

Cutting deals for Oscar winners and Super Bowl entertainers is a long way from where the son of working-class parents in Cincinnati began. He remembers that the only aspirational expectation he faced while growing up was to graduate from high school and get a good, steady job at one of the area's big factories. College wasn't in the cards; no one in his family had ever gone to college straight from high school. In addition, while he was talented and passionate about music - drumming and singing were his specialties - and strong academically, things were not always as smooth as they might have seemed.

"Most people don't know this, but I left home when I was 16," Miller said. "By day, I attended the School for Creative and Performing Arts, but by night I lived with my grandmother before moving into my aunt's basement. I lived a dual existence and kept my personal life a secret. Everyone thought I was on top of the world, but I felt like I was failing. I was on my own and literally had nothing to fall back on."

In the life of every successful person, there seems to be at least one other who became an inflection point - a perfectly timed, influential voice who changed the trajectory for an otherwise vulnerable soul. In this case, it was a school counselor who saw Miller's potential and convinced him to apply to college. He did, choosing his hometown UC College-Conservatory of Music, altering his life forever.

Scholarships and grants helped Miller immerse himself in this new opportunity - living on campus, expanding his perspectives, and discovering his potential in the arts.

As a sophomore, he successfully auditioned to join the resident ensemble of the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, spending the next several summers performing in musical theater. After graduating in 1985, he moved to New York where his considerable abilities led him to tour in musical productions throughout the United States and such far-flung places as Russia, Poland, India and Sri Lanka.

Sensing similarity to the powerlessness he'd felt as a teen, Miller was moved to grab hold of the wheel the following year at the height of his young professional singing career.

Darrell celebrates with his client, stand-up comedian Taylor Tomlinson, before her show at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Photo/provided.

"I was with an international touring production of 'Once Upon a Mattress' and found myself standing on the shore of Chowpatty Beach in Bombay, now Mumbai," Miller remembers. "I'm looking out at the water reflecting on how I'm living beyond my wildest dreams, and at that moment I had an epiphany: How do I make this experience - traveling the world and bringing joy to people through the arts - more predictable and less the function of someone casting me in the next show?

"'I know - I'll be a producer!' I'd watched and seen how it was done. But to be a producer, you need business savvy and money. And as everyone knows, to be successful and make a lot of money in America, society and every parent tells you to become either a doctor or a lawyer."

Miller applied a pragmatic approach: He learned that law school required three years versus 12 for medical school, start to finish - "and law school wouldn't involve blood or cadavers."

Of course, the introspection actually went a bit deeper than that. Miller obviously loved music, but he also recognized within him a passion for building relationships, an innate creativity toward problem-solving, and a skill for negotiation on behalf of people and things he cared a lot about. As he pondered the possibilities further, he realized he was uniquely qualified to carve out a specific niche in his beloved entertainment field.

"As an artist, you see that creators often don't understand (or weren't given the opportunity to understand) the business, and the businesspeople often don't understand (or don't care to truly understand) the creators," he says. "With a legal career, it would be my mission to be a bridge between the two to help creators succeed."

From left: Actor Courtney B. Vance, Darrell's wife Shannon Miller, and Emmy- and Golden Globe award-winning actress (and Vance's wife) Angela Bassett join Darrell at a Grammy party thrown by Darrell's firm, Fox Rothschild. Photo/Provided

The determined Miller went on to earn a law degree from Georgetown University to go with his bachelor's in musical theater from CCM, and began building a fulfilling and successful career as an entertainment attorney, helping to empower others to pursue their dreams in the motion picture, television, music, theater and multimedia industries. He launched his own private practice in 1996, and later became the founding chair of the Entertainment & Sports Law Department within the national law firm Fox Rothschild.

He is managing partner of the firm's Los Angeles office.

Known and respected throughout the industry, he represents a range of creative, A-level clients, including working actors, writers, showrunners, directors, producers and executives. Miller has forged longstanding relationships with studio executives and creative personnel, and built an extraordinary track record of developing sustainable business opportunities among Fortune 100 corporate brands, traditional studios, networks and streaming platforms. His professional North Star has stayed true: Leverage the success of his clients into more success, where each project leads to greater opportunities.

Actress Da'Vine Joy Randolph is proud of the Oscar she received for her 2023 film "The Holdovers," and thrilled to have Darrell in her corner to keep furthering her career. Photo/provided.

The list of Darrell Miller-driven deals is extensive and high-profile. For example:

• Da'Vine Joy Randolph's Oscar-winning role in the 2023 film "The Holdovers";
• Comedian Taylor Tomlinson's role as the late-night talk show host of "After Midnight" and several Netflix specials;
• Honorary Oscar recipient Angela Bassett's starring roles in the hit TV series "9-1-1" and "Zero Day";

• Rapper-actor Ludacris' roles in the blockbuster "Fast & Furious" franchise, his 2024 Super Bowl Halftime Show performance, and numerous endorsement deals.

Miller is also a meme - or rather, he was the subject and inspiration for one. Followers of the long-running reality TV series "Vanderpump Rules" will remember hearing "Send it to Darrell." It was made popular by cast member and Miller client Lala Kent, who thrust him into the middle of Scandoval, as a 2023 storyline quickly became known, with her repeated use of the phrase. "My 15 minutes of fame," Miller says.

Darrell points to his portrait atop the UC Alumni Celebration mural in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, where he's portrayed along with the other 17 alumni recognized last April. Photo/UC Alumni Association

This personal history keeps him involved in his hometown community, even as "home" became southern California long ago. For years he served on the board of directors of the Cincinnati Children's Theatre, helping young people discover success and life lessons through the arts. And because he has wanted to give back to the institution that gave him so much, he is a trustee of the University of Cincinnati Foundation where he can affect the quality of education and career opportunities for tomorrow's Darrell Millers, whatever their talents and dreams might be.

"CCM was the gateway to this life, and I've never forgotten that," he says. "My time at this university taught me the value of hard work and the importance of applying it to all aspects of my life. Together, we've built a legacy that continues to inspire and pave the way for future generations of UC students to think differently about how far they can go.

"See, there's even a Hollywood ending for this Cincinnati kid whose life story has now become another example of the power of this great university."