Based loosely on the life and experiences of Mark Wahlberg, The Entourage is the ultimate story of brotherhood, success, and struggle. Outside of the outlandish lifestyle and hilarious situations, there are critical lessons that The Entourage speaks to that men everywhere can internalize. We’ve developed this series called “Your Entourage” to share some of these gems.
Characters
Vincent "Vince" Chase played by Adrian Grenier
The Main focus of the show, Vince is effectively Mark who has moved from Queens, NY with his buddies to LA to pursue his acting career.
Eric "E" Murphy played by Kevin Connolly
E is Vince’s childhood best friend who goes on to be Vince’s manager
Ari Gold played by Jeremy Piven
Ari is a Hollywood heavyweight that joins on to be Vince’s agent
Johnny "Drama" Chase played by Kevin Dillon
Drama is Vince’s older brother who has had some success as a child actor.
Turtle played by Jerry Ferrara
Turtle is another close friend of Vince who is basically his assistant, taking care of the small and large requests that he has.
Know Your Role
One of the recurring themes in The Entourage is everyone’s struggle to understand and make peace with their role within the group, and this is probably best done by Vince.
Vince is literally the star of the show and the main source of income, so he is constantly making judgment calls between friends and paid professionals. He’s a genuinely humble and generous guy, but as he gains more fame he has to come to the sobering reality that he is the main attraction and will need to move accordingly.
Vince is a fictional character but Drake and Lebron are real-life examples of Vince’s who understand they are in a unique situation to bring their friends and family to another level of stardom and success, but it all depends on their ability to execute on the main thing.
For anyone in Vince’s shoes, it’s important that your decisions and behavior don’t jeopardize the career that brought everyone to the big stage in the first place. It’s equally important that you embrace your role with confidence and don’t feel guilty about your position in the entourage. Your leadership is needed in times of success and failure, as any confusion on your top priority will lead to conflict, missed opportunity, and resentment.
In one particular episode, another childhood friend of Vince pops up out of nowhere and invites himself to join the entourage. He’s fresh out of jail and aggressively stepping on the toes of all of the other entourage members, but it’s not until he steals the personal belongings of a very important studio exec that Vince is forced to make the decision to cut him off. Throughout the episode, there were signals of problematic behavior, but it wasn’t until his livelihood was threatened did Vince act. Unfortunately, we don’t always get the second chance to make things right like Vince, so it’s critical to assess how your role extends into the company you keep and introduce to mixed audiences.
Knowing your role goes beyond the limitations of your entourage. Regardless of the group dynamic, you are the star of your life and at any time that you don’t like the story that is being written, you can change scenes, settings, and the story arc. Keep this in mind as you sign up for any roles