Who Is Angelyne, the Model Behind Emmy Rossum’s First Post-‘Shameless’ Role?

In her first big TV role since Shameless, Emmy Rossum will play the title character in Angelyne. The show is slated for release on Peacock in 2020, but many people outside of Los Angeles are not familiar with this urban legend. Here is what you need to know about the inspiration for Rossum’s new role.

Rossum was announced as the star of Angelyne way back in 2017, when Peacock was still in its infancy. The new NBCUniversal streaming service is set to launch later this year, and now many fans are brushing up on their L.A.-lore in preparation.

The real-life figure of Angelyne is a familiar sight to locals in the city. Starting in the 1980s, she was all over billboards and ads around L.A. By all appearances she was rich and famous, yet not for anything in particular. In this way, she is considered a precursor to the Kardashians.

Angelyne could be seen around L.A. at times too, usually riding in fancy cars or attending celebrity parties. She was known for driving a pink Corvette, making a few film appearances and even running for governor in 2003, when she finished 28th out of 135 candidates.

Through all those years, Angelyne remained a mysterious, enigmatic figure, until finally her true identity was revealed in 2017. That year, The Hollywood Reporter did an exhaustive investigative report on Angelyne, then told her true story in a feature article. According to a report by Pajiba, Angelyne was not happy to be unmasked at the time, but has now given her blessing to the TV series.

It turns out Angelyne’s true name is Renee Goldberg. She was born in Poland in 1950, to parents who had both survived time in concentration camps during the Holocaust. They moved to California where Goldberg was raised, and she reinvented herself into Angelyne some time later, concealing and practically erasing her previous identity.

Angelyne has released music, appeared in movies, TV shows and dabbled in politics. However, she is likely best-known for her iconic billboards. Angelyne’s first billboard went up over Sunset Boulevard in 1982, followed by an 85-foot tall painted mural of her on Hollywood and Vine in 1987. In the years that followed, she appeared on over 200 billboards around the city.

In 2015, Angelyne told The Hollywood Reporter that the first of these billboards was the idea of Hugo Maisnik, an entrepreneur known for adhesive-free tape. After that, her manager reportedly financed many of her larger-than-life billboards.

So far, there are not many details about the TV version of Angelyne, but Rossum did give fans a sneak peek at herself in costume on Tuesday. The show is slated for release on Peacock, which launches in April of 2020. The exact date is still not set.