Seth Rogen

Seth Rogen
Rogen on Good Morning San Diego, 2007
Occupation(s)	actor, writer, film producer
Years active	1999–present

Seth Rogen (born April 15, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer and film producer. He began his career doing standup comedy for four years during his teens, coming in second place in the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest when he was 16. After moving to Los Angeles, he landed supporting roles in the short-lived television series Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared (the latter of which also hired him as a staff writer).

After landing a job as a staff writer on the final season of Da Ali G Show, for which he and the other writers received an Emmy nomination, he was guided by director Judd Apatow toward a film career. He was cast in a major supporting role and credited as a co-producer in Apatow’s directorial debut, The 40-Year-Old Virgin. After receiving critical praise for that performance, Universal Pictures agreed to cast him as the lead in Apatow’s next directorial feature, Knocked Up.

Throughout his career, he has appeared in the films Donnie Darko, You, Me and Dupree and Fanboys, in addition to the Apatow-produced comedies Anchorman, Superbad (a semi-autobiographical comedy he originally intended to headline years ago, co-written by Rogen and Evan Goldberg), Step Brothers, and Pineapple Express. He also co-wrote the screenplay for another comedy that Apatow helped co-produce, Owen Wilson's Drillbit Taylor. He has also provided voiceovers in Shrek The Third, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Horton Hears a Who!, and Kung Fu Panda.

Early life

Rogen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son of Sandy, a social worker, and Mark Rogen, who works for non-profit organizations and as an assistant director of a Workmen's Circle. Rogen has described his parents, who met at an Israeli kibbutz, as "radical Jewish socialists".. He has one older sister, Danya, who is a social worker. Rogen attended a Talmud Torah school and Point Grey Secondary School, 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. With his trademark deadpan humour, he placed second in the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest at 16, then headed south of the border to continue stand-up and acting.

Career

Early career

Rogen's first exposure to the entertainment field began with commercial work in Canada at the age of 13. After trying his hand as a standup comic, Rogen snapped up his first starring role in the series Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000) with only two auditions. He played cynical, acerbic "freak" Ken Miller. Judd Apatow, the show's coproducer, 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 (2001-2002), and went on to write several episodes. In 2001, Rogen also had minor roles in Donnie Darko (playing Ricky Danforth) and Dawson's Creek, in an episode he claims he never saw. Following the cancellation of his second series in 2002, Rogen developed a soured attitude toward television, not wanting to act on another show unless Apatow was involved.

Writing career

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 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. As it turned out, Rogen had signed on to the show for what became its final season; Da Ali G Show ended due to the creative decision that its mode of "surprise" comedy would become unsustainable if the show continued much longer. Rogen's association with the show's star, Sacha Baron Cohen, who had belonged to the same Jewish youth group, 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.

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 vehicle 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 vehicle, Drillbit Taylor, which is based on a 70-page scriptment written by John Hughes.

Recent projects

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 massive success, grossing $109,449,237 domestically ($177,358,395 worldwide). Apatow then cast Rogen as the lead in the 2007 film Knocked Up. 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 Awards, losing to Michael Cera for his role in Superbad which was written by Rogen. Cera had also been nominaed for his role in Juno.

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 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 since 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. Rogen hosted Saturday Night Live on October 6, 2007.

Rogen's next release is Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno, in which he costars with Elizabeth Banks. He recently wrapped production on the Jody Hill-directed mall cop comedy Observe and Report. He is set to costar with Adam Sandler in Apatow's third directorial feature, Funny People. Rogen will play a young, inexperienced comic while Sandler will play a mentor of sorts to Rogen's character; the film will have more dramatic elements in it than Apatow's previous directorial efforts. Other co-stars include Eric Bana and Apatow's wife Leslie Mann.

In April 2008, Empire reported that Rogen and Evan Goldberg will write an episode for the animated television series The Simpsons. He will also voice a character in the episode.

After years of speculation, a feature film adaptation of The Green Hornet will be handled by Rogen and Evan Goldberg with a theatrical release of 2010. To prepare his role, Rogen's physical appearance and attributes will be changed through fitness routines. Rogen is also set to produce and take a supporting role in the film ''I'm With Cancer'', from Mandate Pictures. Cancer is based on an autobiographical comedy script by screenwriter Will Reiser.

Pineapple Express co-star James Franco has hinted about Rogen and Goldberg planning a crossover sequel to both Superbad and Pineapple Express.

Improvisation

Though Rogen has penned scripts for both film and television, his comedic stylings tend to rely heavily on improvisational dialogue. Apatow noticed this improvisation talent on the set of Freaks and Geeks, which influenced his decision to have Rogen write for Undeclared and pitch jokes for The 40-Year-Old Virgin. As with most Apatow projects, the dialogue in Rogen's films is usually not what was on paper. Rogen says he prefers improvised dialogue because it captures the essence of real friends spouting jokes. Because Apatow never stops rolling after takes, allowing his actors to improvise differently each time, Rogen's three largest film roles to date (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Pineapple Express) all achieved the rare milestone of shooting over a million feet of film, almost unprecedented for comedies.

Influences

Rogen has described the shock of being thrust into an industry where he is now working alongside the comedic icons he grew up watching, such as Will Ferrell, Owen Wilson, and Jim Carrey. Rogen cites the Adam Sandler album They're All Gonna Laugh at You! (which features Apatow at certain points) as the funniest thing he has ever heard, stating that the track "At A Medium Pace" was the seed for what became his comedic persona. Rogen was also a huge fan of the Da Ali G Show's first season, so it was a shock to suddenly work for Sacha Baron Cohen. Rogen cites the films Porky's and Bachelor Party, in addition to films by Kevin Smith, as inspirations for writing sex comedies. In an interview with MTV, he said of Smith "I feel like my strengths were always kind of ripping off a Kevin Smith movie anyway. It's not a far departure." Of Smith and his films, Rogen has gone as far as to say "I wouldn’t be a writer if it wasn’t for you and your movies."

Personal life

Rogen moved to Los Angeles at the age of 16, after Apatow discovered him in Vancouver. During his late teens, Rogen's parents moved from Canada with him, but by the time he landed his second television series, his parents would live in both Canada and the United States. Rogen still resides in Los Angeles. He continues to write and produce with longtime writing partner Evan Goldberg, with whom he has worked on Da Ali G Show, Knocked Up, Pineapple Express, and Superbad, the latter of which is a semi-autobiographical take on their longtime friendship. Rogen and long-time girlfriend Lauren Miller attended the film premieres of The 40 Year-Old Virgin, You, Me and Dupree and Knocked Up. One of his most loved films is Army of Darkness. On Rove Live he stated that his most watched movie was The Big Lebowski. When appearing on the British morning t.v. show Soccer AM he drew the team AFC Bournemouth out of a hat as he did not have a team to support, this is done by most celebrities who are not affiliated with a team.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Freaks and Geeks (TV series)	Ken Miller	Series cast
2001	Undeclared (TV series)	Ron Garner	Series cast, writer
	Donnie Darko	Ricky Danforth
2004	Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy	Eager Cameraman	Extra
2005	The 40-Year-Old Virgin	Cal	Supporting role, co-producer
2006	You, Me and Dupree	Neil	Supporting role
2007	Shrek the Third	Ship Captain	Voice only
	Knocked Up	Benjamin Stone	Co-headlining role, executive producer
	Superbad	Officer Michaels	Supporting role, writer, executive producer
2008	The Spiderwick Chronicles	Hogsqueal	Voice only
	Drillbit Taylor		Writer
	Horton Hears a Who!	Morton	Voice only
	Kung Fu Panda	Master Mantis	Voice only
	Step Brothers	Sporting Goods Manager	Cameo role
	Pineapple Express	Dale Denton	Co-headlining role, writer, executive producer
	Fanboys	Admiral Seasholtz/The Pimp/Star Journey alien	3 different small roles
	Zack and Miri Make a Porno	Zack	Co-headlining role
2009	Funny People	Ira	Lead role, executive producer
	Monsters vs. Aliens	B.O.B.	Voice only
	Observe and Report	Ronnie Barnhardt	Lead role
2010	The Green Hornet	Britt Reid/The Green Hornet	Lead role, co-writer
	Kung Fu Panda 2	Master Mantis	Voice only pre-production

Awards

Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
2000	Nominated	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a TV Series - Young Ensemble for: Freaks and Geeks. Shared with cast
2005	Nominated	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program for: Da Ali G Show. Shared with writing staff
2006	Nominated	MTV Movie Award	Best On-Screen Team for: The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Shared with Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, and Romany Malco
2008	Won	Canadian Comedy Award Best Writing (Film) for: Superbad
2008	Nominated	Canadian Comedy Award Best Actor (Film) for: Knocked Up
2008	Nominated	MTV Movie Award	Best Comedic Performance Breakthrough Performance

Further reading

• Patterson, J (2007-09-14). "Comedy's new centre of gravity". Film. The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-09-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

• Seth Rogen at IMDb
• The Education of A Comic Prodigyon Time.com (a division of Time Magazine)
• The Onion A.V. Club interview
• Seth Rogen Interview in Complex Magazine
• Interview with Seth Rogen about Knocked Up
• Interview with Seth Rogen about Knocked Up
• Telegraph.co.uk Interview with Seth Rogen