Filmmakers, lawmakers, shot-takers: Top 6 emerging Sacramento news figures of 2018
These are not endorsements, there are no cash prizes and there are no participation ribbons.
But these six people sure left their mark on the greater Sacramento region this year.
The Sacramento Bee’s local news team has chosen a half-dozen individuals who stood out as emerging Sacramento-area newsmakers in 2018.
A few rules: We have decided to include only living people for this list, and in keeping with the emerging theme, we have decided not to include elected officials who took office before 2018. (Sorry, Jerry Brown.)
In no particular order, here are our choices for emerging newsmakers.
Ryan Coogler, director
It wasn’t his first feature film, but “Black Panther” was undoubtedly the biggest hit of Coogler’s blooming career, pulling in more than $1.3 billion after its February premiere.
The Marvel superhero feature has even picked up Oscar buzz, as it has received steady critical acclaim since release. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives “Black Panther” a 97 percent “fresh” rating.
He’s an Oakland native but Coogler studied film at Sacramento State. An alum whose face has adorned the university’s electronic billboard along Highway 50 with the caption “#MadeAtSacState,” Coogler and his work are fondly appreciated.
Coogler was also a finalist for Time magazine’s Person of the Year award. Notably, he was the only entertainment figure that made the Top 10; the other nine finalists were political figures, activists and journalists.
Coogler also directed “Creed,” a 2015 sequel to “Rocky,” and “Fruitvale Station” (2013). Both were well-received. Both starred Michael B. Jordan.
Read more about Coogler and “Black Panther.”
Stevante Clark, activist
The death of Stevante Clark’s brother, Stephon Clark, made national headlines, as the fatal police shooting of the unarmed man in his grandparents’ backyard prompted questions regarding police use of force, as well as protests organized by Black Lives Matter and other activist groups.
Stevante Clark in March stormed a Sacramento City Council meeting, jumped on the dais and yelled at Mayor Darrell Steinberg as tempers flared in response to the shooting.
In a recent story, The Bee spoke to Clark, who gave an account of his behavior. After losing his brother, Stevante said he had a mental breakdown.
The 26-year-old was arrested and put on a mental health hold at UC Davis Medical Center. He tried to escape the involuntary hold by spilling apple juice on the floor to cause nurses and doctors to slip and fall.
Stevante Clark is employed now at a nonprofit as he works to rebuild his life.
Stevante Clark has said he will run for mayor of Sacramento in 2020, telling The Sacramento Bee he’ll work to improve “underdeveloped communities.”
“Me running for mayor is my way of putting pressure on the city to do something for my brother’s legacy,” he told The Bee.
Read more about Stevante Clark.
De’Aaron Fox, Kings point guard
Fox may be helping lead a Kings team out of irrelevance, where the franchise had remained stuck for years.
The Kings’ 18-15 record as of Christmas represents the team’s best start in more than a decade. They’ll have a .500 or better record by New Year’s Day for the first time since the 2004-05 season.
In his second year in the NBA, Fox has been the Kings’ star. His solid stats, not to mention his high-energy personality and style of play, have sports fans inside and out of Sacramento paying attention.
The youngest person on this list, Fox celebrated his 21st birthday in late December.
In a highly competitive NBA Western Conference, Sacramento has spent much of the season No. 7 or 8 spot in the standings — if the regular season ended Christmas Eve, they’d be in the playoffs facing the Warriors in the playoffs.
The 2018-19 Kings team to this point has been so impressive, Bee columnist Marcos Breton recently used the club as a metaphor for the city as a whole and its recent resurgence, especially downtown.
Click here for our The Bee’s Kings coverage.
Greta Gerwig, filmmaker
Yes, we’re talking about “Lady Bird” again.
The coming-of-age tale came out in 2017, but made its awards season rounds in early 2018.
Nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director at the 90th Academy Awards in March, “Lady Bird” marked an extremely successful directorial debut for Gerwig, a Sacramento native who set the film in her hometown, though it did not lock up a win in any of those five categories.
But in January’s Golden Globes, “Lady Bird” took Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy, and Saoirse Ronan won Best Actress in a musical or comedy for her portrayal of the titular character.
Gerwig gave the city a shoutout in her acceptance speech, saying Sacramentans “give me roots and wings.”
From the Tower Theater to the Fab 40s, the critically acclaimed film features many of Sacramento’s most notable hotspots in a positive light (even as the film’s plot centers around the protagonist’s desire to leave the city for an East Coast college).
Read more about Gerwig and “Lady Bird.”
Paul Holes, investigator
A Contra Costa investigator, Holes’ Twitter bio offers a little faux-humble-brag of his claim to fame.
“Had a little something to do with solving the Golden State Killer case,” Holes writes. Known better around these parts as the East Area Rapist case, Holes was a lead investigator whose sleuthing through DNA proved instrumental in tracking down Joseph James DeAngelo. DeAngelo was arrested in April in Citrus Heights, suspected to be the serial killer who eluded law enforcement for decades.
Though Holes retired in March, his newfound popularity has made him a former FBI agent turned talent agent. In April, Holes said he was considering writing a book about his quest to find the East Area Rapist.
In September, The Los Angeles Times reported that Holes signed a deal to create programming for the true crime cable channel Oxygen.
Holes has became an unassuming sex symbol for many true-crime fans, who discuss the 50-year-old Vacaville resident’s charm in Reddit threads and Facebook groups about serial killers and unsolved cases. One Facebook group dedicated to Holes, called Holerinos, has amassed more than 800 members since it was created in April.
Read more about Holes and the East Area Rapist case.
Read more about Holes’ status as a sex symbol.
Eleni Kounalakis, lieutenant governor of California
Sacramento’s own Kounalakis will be the next lieutenant governor of California, and the first woman ever to hold that position.
Having served as ambassador to Hungary during the Obama administration, the Democrat announced the intent to run for the state office in April 2017, directly motivated by the defeat of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump.
“Her losing was a big shock. ... I had to ask myself now what do I do?” she told The Bee at the time.
Kounalakis, 52, campaigned on a platform supportive of Obamacare, free public college tuition and immigration protection.
Kounalakis and her father, Sacramento developer Angelo Tsakopoulos, donated at least $9 million to her campaign, as The Bee reported less than a week before the June primaries.