Netflix reveals main cast for upcoming FTX series
Netflix has rounded out the main cast of its upcoming FTX collapse drama The Altruists, revealing six actors who have been chosen to appear alongside Julia Garner’s Caroline Ellison and Anthony Boyle’s Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF).
The series will reportedly cover the massive growth of SBF’s crypto exchange between 2019 and 2021 and its spectacular collapse in 2022 which wiped billions of dollars from the crypto market.
Netflix says the series will follow SBF and Ellison, “two hyper-smart, ambitious young idealists who tried to remake the global financial system in the blink of an eye… before they were accused of stealing $8 billion.”
Here are the major cast members announced so far.
Changpeng Zhao
Terry Chen will be playing the role of Changpeng Zhao.
Chen starred in the 2000 comedy Almost Famous and played a corrupt Chinese businessman in season two of House of Cards. The 51-year-old will be stepping into the shoes of SBF’s biggest rival.
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Zhao and SBF met on occasions during FTX’s heyday, but Zhao would later contribute to the firm’s collapse when he announced that his crypto exchange Binance would liquidate the FTX-linked asset “FTT.”
Dr. George Lerner
William Mapother will be playing the role of FTX’s company therapist, Dr. George Lerner.
Lerner was SBF’s psychiatrist during the FTX years and was tasked with coaching 100 of the firm’s employees through its most chaotic period. Some employees reportedly wouldn’t share everything they knew with Lerner out of fear that SBF would find out.
Mapother’s character reportedly “knew SBF best,” and would help him to explore his “seeming rejection of earthly pleasures.”
Mapother has previously starred in the TV series Lost, and is known for his work in The Mentalist, and In The Bedroom. He is also Tom Cruise’s cousin, and co-founded the film financing firm Slated.
Sarah Fisher Ellison
Dirty Dancing and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off star Jennifer Grey has been cast to play Caroline Ellison’s mother, Sarah Fisher Ellison.
Ellison is a senior lecturer at the MIT Department of Economics, who, alongside her husband, struggled to grasp the damage their daughter caused while working for FTX and pleaded for leniency in her sentencing.
Duncan Rheingans-Yoo
Canadian actor Hudson Williams shot to fame in the hit hockey series Heated Rivalry, and will play the role of Duncan Rheingans-Yoo.
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Rheingans-Yoo co-founded crypto trading firm Modulo Capital, which received $475 million from FTX shortly before the exchange collapsed. Fellow co-founder Lily Zhang will be played by Marianna Phung, who starred in the series Poly is the New Monogamy.
A bankrupt FTX would later claw back $460 million from the firm.
Sam Bankman-Fried
The most important role in the series goes to Anthony Boyle, who will play FTX’s curly-haired CEO.
Boyle has starred in House of Guinness, Manhunt, Say Nothing, and featured in the Tolkien and Tetris movies.
SBF oversaw the operation that misappropriated billions of dollars worth of customer funds and used them to make investments through FTX’s sister firm, Alameda Research.
These days, SBF is spending his days serving out a 25-year sentence in jail while trying, and failing, to secure a pardon from US President Donald Trump.
Read more: Sam Bankman-Fried begs Trump for pardon, gets bipartisan ‘No’
Caroline Ellison
Starring alongside Boyle will be Julia Garner, playing the role of SBF’s romantic partner and former FTX exec, Caroline Ellison.
Ellison and SBF worked together at trading firm Jane Street before the pair moved on to FTX. Ellison helped SBF grow his empire until it collapsed and she would later testify against him in court.
She said that for the duration of their relationship, SBF was her boss. At one court trial, she claimed, “I wanted more from our relationship but often felt he was distant or not paying much attention to me.”
Garner recently starred in the Oscar-nominated horror Weapons, and is known for her work in Ozark, Marvel’s Fantastic Four: First Steps, and The Assistant.
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Lucy and Hannah
Playing the unknown characters of Lucy and Hannah are Hannah Galway and Elizabeth Adams.
Galway is known for her work on Billy the Kid and The Institute, while Adams is known for The Wayward and Trouble in Suburbia. It’s not clear how their characters fit into the FTX saga.
FTX execs
Other roles that have already been cast include a number of former FTX executives.
Among them are former Alameda Research CEO, Sam Trabucco, who’ll be played by Andor and Alien Earth star Alex Lawther. Trabucco resigned before the collapse of FTX and seemingly disappeared, leading to rumours that he was on the run.
Another prominent exec who will be featured is Ryan Salame, who’ll be played by Matt Rife. The former FTX exec used customer funds to help build SBF’s political influence through illegal political donations.
Read more: Whoever’s running SBF’s X account keeps following memecoin shills
Other execs set to appear include Constance Wang, Nishad Singh, Gary Wang, and Claire Watanabe, who will be played by Madison Hu, Karan Sonit, Euguen Young, and Naomi Okada, respectively.
Paul Reiser will play SBF’s dad, Joe Bankman, while SBF’s mum, Barbara Fried, will be played by Robin Weigert.
SBF’s social fixer and former head of FTX luxury partnerships, Lauren Platt, will be played by Maddie Hasson.
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