Jeremy Piven Biography
Summary
"Jeremy Samuel Piven" (born July 26, 1965) is a two-time Emmy Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Ari Gold on the HBO series "Entourage".
Biography
Early life
Jeremy Piven was born in New York, New York, and grew up in Evanston, Illinois, in north suburban Chicago. He graduated from Evanston Township High School, and attended Harand Theater Camp in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, as a teenager. He played the part of 'Bernardo' in "West Side Story", there. In Illinois, he trained at Piven Theatre Workshop, founded by his parents Byrne Piven and Joyce (née Hiller), both of whom were actors and drama teachers. He has a sister, Shira, and attended Camp Chai, a Jewish Community Center camp in Lake Delton, Wisconsin, in the 1970s. He also attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. While at Drake he became a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He spent a semester at the National Theater Institute in Waterford, CT. He has appeared in a number of films with John Cusack, who is also from Evanston and is a fellow alumnus of the Piven Theatre Workshop (as are Cusack's sisters Joan and Ann). Piven and Cusack once shared an apartment and have been friends since high school.
Career
Piven's first significant role was as a regular castmember for several seasons on HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show", where he played the headwriter Jerry. Piven has appeared in several successful films, including "The Family Man", "Black Hawk Down", "Heat", "PCU", "Old School" and "Runaway Jury". He also had a brief appearance as a gay salesman in "Rush Hour 2".
Since 2004, Piven has played Hollywood agent Ari Gold in the HBO series "Entourage". He has received an Emmy nomination for best supporting actor three straight years from 2005 to 2007, and won the award in 2006 and 2007. Piven was also the star and producer of the short-lived ABC dramedy series "Cupid", and was a supporting cast member on the last three seasons of the sitcom "Ellen." He played the part of Ellen's cousin, 'Spence'.
Piven performed 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' during the seventh-inning stretch at Wrigley Field on Father's Day, 2006. Piven gave the cue to Chicago Cubs fans by saying, 'Let's hug it out, you little bitches', a line he made famous as his character Ari Gold on the hit HBO show "Entourage". The "Chicago Tribune" reported that he was to have said, 'Hug it out, Cubs fans'. He apologized on WGN-TV, and later claimed it was an accident during an appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno".
Piven also appeared in local television advertisements for Cincinnati Bell Telephone, a subsidiary of Cincinnati Bell, Inc. He ended each commercial with the tagline, 'Welcome to Cincinnati Bell'. These advertisements ended on February 28, 2007, as the rights ended on that date. Piven's voice can be heard in national television advertisements for the restaurant Buffalo Wild Wings, in which he delivers the phrase, 'Buffalo Wild Wings: You have to be here.' He also appeared in Paul Westerberg's 'Dyslexic Heart' video for the movie "Singles", and played a balding Michael Barth playing George Costanza on the "Seinfeld" episode 'The Pilot'.
Piven was in a series of 1998 TV commercials for the Chicago Blackhawks and hosted "Saturday Night Live" on January 20 2007 with musical guest AFI. Most recently, Piven appeared as Deputy Chief of Mission Damon Schmidt in "The Kingdom".
Personal life
Piven is Jewish, and also shares beliefs of many Eastern Religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. Piven starred in the Travel Channel special "Jeremy Piven's Journey of a Lifetime" detailing his journey across India.
Piven plays the drums in his spare time. He recently sat in to play live with Kelley Jimenez.
Former "Saturday Night Live" writer and comedy director Adam McKay is Jeremy's brother-in-law. Piven is uncle to Pearl from "The Landlord".
In 2007, Piven appeared in the video for 'Drivin' Me Wild', the third single taken from rapper Common's seventh album "Finding Forever". The two were co-stars in 'Smokin' Aces', and appeared together when Piven hosted "SNL" in January 2007.
Filmography
"Untitled Man vs. Nature Project" (2009)
"Goods:The Don Ready Story" (2008) - Don Ready
"RocknRolla" (2008)
"The Kingdom" (2007)
"Saturday Night Live" (January 20 2007) - appears in 4 live sketches + the three-part pretaped sketch 'MacGruber'. (supported the Chicago Bears at the end)
"Smokin' Aces" (2007) - Buddy 'Aces' Israel
"Cars" (2006) - Marv
"Keeping Up with the Steins" (2006) - Adam Fiedler
"Two for the Money" (2005) - Jerry
"Entourage" (2004-2007) - Ari Gold
"Chasing Liberty" (2004) - Alan Weiss
"Scary Movie 3" (2003) - Ross Giggins
"Runaway Jury" (2003) - Lawrence Green
"Old School" (2003) - Dean Gordon Pritchard
"Me and Daphne" (2002) - Interviewer
"The Twilight Zone" (2002) - Tyler
"Highway" (2002) - Scawldy
"Black Hawk Down" (2001) - CWO Cliff 'Elvis' Wolcott
"Serendipity" (2001) - Dean Kansky
"Rush Hour 2" (2001) - Versace Salesman
"The Family Man" (2000) - Arnie
"The Crew" (2000) - Det. Steve Menteer
"Red Letters" (2000) - Thurston Clarque
"Very Bad Things" (1998) - Michael Berkow
"Music From Another Room" (1998) - Billy Swan
"Very Bad Things" (1998) - Michael Berkow
"Phoenix" (1998) - Fred Shuster
"Don King: Only in America" (1997) TV movie - Hank Schwartz
"Kiss the Girls" (1997) - Henry Castillo, LAPD
"Livers Ain't Cheap" (1997) - John
"Grosse Pointe Blank" (1997) - Paul Spericki
"Just Write" (1997) - Harold McMurphy
"Larger than Life" (1996) - Walter
"E=mc2" (1996) - Dr. Paul Higgins
"Layin' Low" (1996) - Jerry
"Heat" (1995) - Dr. Bob
"Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde" (1995) - Pete Walston
"Miami Rhapsody" (1995) - Mitchell
"PCU" (1994) - James 'Droz' Andrews
"Car 54, Where Are You?" (1994) - Herbert Hortz
"Floundering" (1994) - Guy
"The Ticket" (1994) - Miles Mountjoy
"Twogether" (1994) - Arnie
"Seinfeld" (1993) - Michael Barth (George) Season Four 'The Pilot'
"Twenty Bucks" (1993) - Nervous Quick-Mart Clerk
"Judgment Night" (1993) - Ray Cochran
"" (1993) TV movie - Howard Richter
"There Goes the Neighborhood" (1992) - Albert Lodge
"Singles" (1992) - Doug Hughley
"Bob Roberts" (1992) - Candle Seller
"Body Chemistry II: The Voice of a Stranger" (1992) - Patrolman
"The Player" (1992) - Steve Reeves
"White Palace" (1990) - Kahn
"The Grifters" (1990) - Sailor - Freshman
"Say Anything..." (1989) - Mark
"Elvis Stories" (1989) - Lenny
"One Crazy Summer" (1986) - Ty
"Lucas" (1986) - Spike
External links
(Interview on WHO.com with Jeremy Piven and Doug Ellin)
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Jeremy Piven.
