Stuti Gokhale
‘Angelyne‘ is an interesting biographical drama series based on the life of Los Angeles pop culture icon Angelyne, who made waves during the 80s with her sensational billboards. Created by Nancy Oliver, the Peacock Original further examines the diva’s journey through the eyes of her former acquaintances as well as the people who worked with her. One such character who catches the viewers’ attention is Andre Casiano, who is Angelyne’s on-and-off assistant for several years. But like many others in the show, is he too based on a real person in the billboard queen’s life? Let’s find out more together.
Is Andre Casiano Based on a Real Person?
No, Andre Casiano is not based on a real person. In the show, he works as Angelyne’s assistant three times since the 80s- first from 1986 to 1987, then in 1995, and lastly, in 2012. Andre is highly inspired by her rebellious and daring persona when he first meets her and states that these very traits convince him to work with her. He soon becomes a part of her inner circle and accompanies her on her meetings, interviews, and shoots.
In addition, Andre works with Rick Krause and Freddy Messina in Angelyne’s office, helping her schedule media appearances and plan promotional strategies. However, he often has a lot of creative conflicts with her, like when he recommends her to make an appearance on ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show.’ Angelyne snubs his idea and decides to appear on ‘The Hot Seat’ with Wally George instead. This surely backfires, as Wally berates her publicly and makes her uncomfortable.
Andre is Angelyne’s personal assistant, and hence, she treats him rather dismissively. They have a major spat when she is filming the movie ‘Earth Girls Are Easy’ in the late 80s. When Angelyne arrives on set, she notices that her trailer is labeled as Gas Girl, the role which she has been selected for. Since she has a strict clause of only playing herself in her movie projects, she bursts out at Andre for not informing the production team of the same.
As Angelyne continues going off on Andre for the inconvenience caused, he gets frustrated and quits the job on the spot. But as the show implies earlier, he probably reconciles with her and returns to work for her in later years. Interestingly, this on-screen incident is quite similar to a real event in Angelyne’s life, as one of her assistants allegedly quit after having a hard time with her during a photoshoot for IKEA in 1995. Although, there is no corroborating evidence that Andre’s character in Angelyne is based on this person, whose identity too, is rather unknown.
Thus, we can likely assume that Andre is an amalgamation of many of the assistants who may have worked for Angelyne over the past four decades. It could also be that he draws from some of the experiences of Scott Hennig, who has been her trusted friend and assistant for several years. Nonetheless, all our conjectures indicate that Andre is largely fictional and has been created to add variety to the show’s narrative.
Read More: Is Angelyne Married? Does She Have Kids?
