Jeremy Piven

This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Jeremy Piven is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:

Jeremy Piven
Born Jeremy Samuel Piven
July 26, 1965 (1965-07-26) (age 43)
New York City, New York, USA
Occupation Actor
Years active 1983-present

Jeremy Samuel Piven (born July 26, 1965) is a three-time Emmy Award- and Golden Globe Award-winning American actor. He is best known for his role as Ari Gold on the critically acclaimed HBO television series Entourage.

Contents

Biography

Early years

Piven was born in New York City and grew up in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago.1 He graduated from Evanston Township High School,2 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,3 founded by his parents Byrne Piven and Joyce (née Hiller), both of whom were actors and drama teachers.41 He has a sister, Shira,5 and attended Camp Chi, a Jewish Community Center summer camp in Lake Delton, Wisconsin, in the 1970s. He also attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa,6 and is a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity.7 He spent a semester at the National Theater Institute in Waterford, Connecticut. 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.8

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 Lucas, Grosse Pointe Blank, Very Bad Things, The Family Man, Black Hawk Down, Heat, PCU, Old School, Guy Ritchies latest outing, Rock N Rolla and Runaway Jury. He also had brief cameo appearances in Rush Hour 2. and in the US release of Cars.

Since 2004, Piven has played rambunctious Hollywood agent Ari Gold in the HBO series Entourage. He received Emmy nominations for best supporting actor four straight years from 2005 to 2008, and won the award in 2006, 2007, and 2008. 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. He also voiced Elongated Man in three episodes of Justice League Unlimited.

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 2007.9

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."10dead link He apologized on WGN-TV, and later claimed it was an accident during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.citation needed

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, including one in which he famously proclaimed "Detroit Sucks" from the upper level of the United Center. He 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. He also lent his voice to Earth Hour in a video for a campaign urging people to turn off their lights for one hour on March 29, 2008.

Piven appeared in the first Broadway revival of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow, co-starring "Mad Men" star Elisabeth Moss and three-time Tony nominee Raul Esparza. The production began preview performances on October 3, 2008, and opened on October 23, 2008; the play was due to run through February 22, 2009. After Piven missed several performances, on December 17, 2008, Piven's rep announced that due to an undisclosed illness, Piven would be ending his run in the play effective immediately. 11 The illness was revealed to be hydrargaria, a disease caused by exposure to mercury or its compounds. Mamet joked that Piven was leaving the play "to pursue a career as a thermometer." 12 The show's producers announced that Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Tony-winner Norbert Leo Butz and Fargo Oscar nominee William H. Macy will assume Piven's part, that of a breathless Hollywood exec similar in temperament to Piven's agent Ari Gold on HBO's Entourage.13

Personal life

Piven considers himself "Jewish-Buddhist."14 He starred in the Travel Channel special Jeremy Piven's Journey of a Lifetime detailing his journey across India. Former Saturday Night Live writer and comedy director Adam McKay is his brother-in-law. Piven is uncle to Pearl from The Landlord.

Filmography

Film actor
Year Title Role Notes
2009 Untitled Man vs. Nature Project Unknown Role Announced
2009 American Empire Unknown Role in Pre-production
2009 The Goods: The Don Ready Story Unknown Role
2008 RocknRolla Roman
2007 The Kingdom Damon Schmidt
2006 Smokin' Aces Buddy ‘Aces’ Israel
2006 Keeping Up with the Steins Adam Fiedler
2006 Cars Harv Voice
2006 A Cat’s Tale Blackie Direct-to-video - Voice
2005 Scooby Doo in Where's My Mummy? Rock Rivers Direct-to-video - Voice
2005 Two for the Money (film) Jerry
2004 Chasing Liberty Alan Weiss
2003 Scary Movie 3 Ross Giggins
2003 Runaway Jury Lawrence Green
2003 Old School Dean Gordon ‘Cheese’ Pritchard
2002 Me and Daphne Interviewer
2002 Highway Scawldy Independent film
2001 Black Hawk Down Cliff 'Elvis' Wolcott
2001 Serendipity Dean Kansky
2000 Rush Hour 2 Versace Salesman
2000 The Family Man Arnie
2000 The Crew Det. Steve Menteer Independent film
2000 Red Letters Thurston Clarque
1999 Partners Nick Television movie
1998 Very Bad Things Michael Berkow
1998 Phoenix Fred Shuster
1998 Music from Another Room Billy Swan
1997 Don King: Only in America Hank Schwartz Television movie
1997 Kiss the Girls Henry Castillo, LAPD
1997 Livers Ain’t Cheap John
1997 Grosse Pointe Blank Paul Spericki
1997 Just Write Harold McMurphy
1996 Larger Than Life Walter
1996 Layin’ Low Jerry
1996 E=mc2 Dr. Paul Higgins
1995 Heat Dr. Bob
1995 Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde Peter Walston
1995 Miami Rhapsody Mitchell
1994 PCU James ‘Droz’ Andrews
1994 Car 54, Where Are You? Herbert Hortz
1994 Twogether Arnie
1994 Floundering Guy
1994 The Ticket Miles Moutnjoy
1993 Judgment Night Ray Cochran
1993 12:01 Howard Richter Television movie
1993 Twenty Bucks Nervous Quick-Mart Clerk
1992 There Goes the Neighborhood Albert Lodge
1992 Singles Doug Hughley
1992 Bob Roberts Candle Seller
1992 Body Chemistry II: The Voice of a Stranger Patrolman
1992 The Player Steve Reeves
1990 White Palace Kahn
1990 The Grifters Sailor - Freshman
1989 Say Anything... Mark
1989 Elvis Stories Lenny
1986 One Crazy Summer Ty
1986 Lucas Spike
Television actor
Year Title Role Notes
2008 José Cuervo Commercial Himself Voice
2004-Present Entourage Ariel ‘Ari’ Gold Main cast
2006 Jeremy Piven’s Journey of a Lifetime Himself Documentary film
2004-2005 Justice League The Elongated Man Voice (3 episodes)
2002 The Twilight Zone Tyler Ward Guest star (2 episodes)
2002 Rugrats Additional Voices Voice
2000 Buzz Lightyear of Star Command Brain Pod #57 Voice
2000 Will & Grace Nicholas
1998-1999 Cupid Trevor Hale/Cupid Lead actor (All 15 episodes)
1995-1998 Ellen Spence Kovak Main cast
1992-1998 The Larry Sanders Show Jerry Capen Main cast (15 episodes)
1997 Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man Victor DeMann Voice
1997 Coach Spence Kovak Guest star
1997 Grace Under Fire Spence Kovak Guest star
1997 The Drew Carey Show Spence Kovak Guest star
1995 Pride & Joy Nathan Green Television series
1995 Chicago Hope Godfrey Nabbott Guest star (2 episodes)
1993 Seinfeld Michael Barth
1990 Carol & Company Comedy sketch characters Television variety show
Television producer
Year Title Role Notes
2006 Jeremy Piven’s Journey of a Lifetime Executive Producer Documentary film
1998-1999 Cupid Producer Television series

References

External links

Golden Globe Award
Preceded by
Jeremy Irons
for Elizabeth I
Best Supporting Actor - Series
for Entourage

2008
Succeeded by
-

Wikipedia content modification information:

  • This page was last modified on 6 January 2009, at 15:09.

Wikipedia Authorship and Review

Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.

Wikipedia Usage Guidelines

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Jeremy Piven".

The URL for this specific entry is:

All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.