Seth Rogen is a Canadian actor, comedian, voice artist, screenwriter, and film producer. Rogen plays the Green Hornet in the 2011 film of the same name, which he co-wrote with writing partner Evan Goldberg.
Early Life[]
Rogen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has described his parents, who met at an Israeli kibbutz, as "radical Jewish socialists." Rogen attended Vancouver Talmud Torah Elementary School and Point Grey Secondary School (although he never graduated), incorporating many of his classmates into his writing. He was also known for the stand-up comedy he performed at Camp Miriam, a Habonim Dror camp. Rogen got his start in show business at age 13, after signing up for a comedy class. At the age of 14, with his friend Evan Goldberg, he co-wrote Superbad, reflecting pieces from their childhood and dad. With his deadpan humor, he placed second in the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest at 16 years old, then headed south of the border to continue stand-up and acting.
Early Career[]
Rogen's first exposure to the entertainment field began with commercial work in Canada at the age of 13.[4] After trying his hand as a standup comic for a few years, Rogen obtained his first starring role in the series Freaks and Geeks with only two auditions. He played cynical, acerbic "freak" Ken Miller. Judd Apatow, the show's co-producer, was very impressed with Rogen's improvisational skills. After the show was cancelled in the middle of its first season, Rogen was cast in a similar role in Apatow's second, also short-lived series, Undeclared, and went on to write several episodes. In 2001, Rogen also had a minor role in Donnie Darko (playing Ricky Danforth) and in 2003 on an episode of Dawson's Creek called "Rock Bottom" as "Bob" in their last season, that he also claims he never saw.
Writing Career[]
Seth Rogen stars as Britt Reid in 2011's The Green Hornet, which he also co-wrote.
Rogen's first major writing job was for Apatow's second short-lived television series, Undeclared, for which he was hired as a writer before he was offered an acting role. During the show's run, Rogen wrote one episode by himself and co-wrote four others.
Rogen's experience with Undeclared paid off when he and his writing partner, Evan Goldberg, joined the writing staff of Da Ali G Show for its second and ultimately final season. In 2005, the Ali G Show writing staff, including Rogen and Goldberg, received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in the Writing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Program category. Rogen's association with the show's star, Sacha Baron Cohen, who had belonged to the same Jewish youth group, Habonim Dror, was not over, however; in a recent interview with Tokion (#55), Rogen claimed to have made uncredited contributions to Cohen's film version of Borat, and he is credited with providing additional material for Brüno.
In 2008 Rogen won the Best Writing (Film) Canadian Comedy Award for Superbad. He had written the script for this 2007 comedy years earlier, as a starring role for himself. The Superbad team then looked for "an 18-year-old version" of Rogen and chose frequent Rogen collaborator Jonah Hill (who is slightly less than two years younger). Rogen also wrote the screenplay for the Owen Wilson movie Drillbit Taylor, which is based on a 70-page scriptment written by John Hughes.
Acting Roles[]
A picture of Rogen
Rogen returned to the big screen in 2005 with a major supporting role in Apatow's directorial debut The 40 Year Old Virgin alongside Steve Carell. The film was a success, grossing $109,449,237 domestically ($177,358,395 worldwide). Apatow then cast Rogen as the lead in the 2007 film Knocked Up.[12] Upon completing The 40 Year Old Virgin, Apatow had approached Rogen about potential starring roles, but the actor suggested many high-concept science fiction ideas. After Apatow insisted that Rogen would work better in real life situations, the two agreed on the accidental pregnancy concept that became Knocked Up, for which Rogen was nominated for Best Actor at the 2008 Canadian Comedy Dundies, losing to Michael Cera for his role in Superbad (which was co-written by Rogen).
In USA Today's recent profile of the so-called "frat pack" group of contemporary actors, they mention those actors' rising salaries makes it financially wiser to cast newcomers like Rogen as supporting characters, citing his roles in The 40 Year Old Virgin and Dupree as successful examples. When asked in an interview if he is in the group, Rogen has stated that he is not sure.
Rogen and Apatow were behind the 2007 teen comedy Superbad at Sony Pictures. Rogen and Goldberg wrote the film, with Apatow as one of the producers. While Rogen did pen Owen Wilson's Drillbit Taylor, he did not appear in it, as the script mostly involved high school students. Freaks and Geeks co-star James Franco reunited with Rogen for the Rogen/Goldberg-written comedy, Pineapple Express.[16] Rogen hosted Saturday Night Live on October 6, 2007 and again on April 4, 2009. Rogen's next release was Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno, in which he co-starred with Elizabeth Banks. It was the first film Rogen has co-headlined in that grossed under $100 million at the domestic box-office. Rogen also appeared along-side Kevin Smith on the October 18th, 2008 episode of the movie review podcast Scene Unseen.
He starred in the Jody Hill-directed mall cop comedy Observe and Report, which opened in theaters on April 10, 2009.[20] Later in 2009, Rogen starred in Apatow's third directorial feature, Funny People, with Adam Sandler. Rogen played a young, inexperienced comic while Sandler played a mentor of sorts to Rogen's character; the film had more dramatic elements in it than Apatow's previous directorial efforts.[22] Other co-stars included Eric Bana and Apatow's wife Leslie Mann.
A picture of Van Williams
In April 2008, Empire reported that Rogen and Evan Goldberg would write an episode for the animated television series The Simpsons. He also voiced a character in the episode. The episode was titled "Homer the Whopper" and was the season premiere.
After years of speculation, a feature film adaptation of The Green Hornet was handled by Rogen and Evan Goldberg and released in January 2011. To prepare for his role, Rogen changed his physical appearance through fitness routines. In 2007, in a strategy to garner interest and funding, Rogen created a pre-pre-production trailer for Jay and Seth vs. The Apocalypse, a film he is now working on with Goldberg,[26] and is set to produce and take a supporting role in the film Live With It from Mandate Pictures. The film is based on an autobiographical comedy script by screenwriter Will Reiser.
Filmography[]
External links[]
Seth Rogen at the Kevin Smith wiki.