The Real People Behind Empire

Poor Andre. He gets all the Lyon headaches without any of the Lyon talent. But true to form, he's the fictional counterpart to some folks you've probably never heard of. Vulture suggests that Andre is also inspired by real people: "half Damon Dash, the Roc-a-Fella Records founder who ended up in debt after bad money decisions, and half Jared Kushner, a successful and trendy entrepreneur who took over his family's real-estate business but definitely wouldn't know his way around a recording studio."