Jason Segel

Jason Segel
Segel in March 2009
Born	Jason Jordan Segel January 18, 1980 (1980-01-18) (age 29) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, screenwriter, musician
Years active	1998–present

Jason Jordan Segel (born January 18, 1980) is an American television and film actor, screenwriter and musician, known for his work with producer Judd Apatow on the short-lived television series Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, the movies Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, and I Love You, Man, and also for his role as Marshall Eriksen in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother.

Early life

Segel was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in Pacific Palisades, California. Segel attended a Catholic school, though he was raised in his father's Jewish religion.^[1][2][3] Following the completion of elementary school, he completed his middle and high school studies at Harvard-Westlake School, where his 6'4" (193 cm)^[4] frame helped him as an active member of the state champion boys' basketball team. He was hoping to become an actor during his school days and acted in local theater productions at Palisades Playhouse.^[5]

Career

He is known for his role as "Freak" Nick Andopolis on the short-lived NBC comedy-drama series Freaks and Geeks, about a group of suburban Detroit high school students circa 1980. He also personally wrote a song for his character, Nick, to sing to the lead female character, Lindsay (Linda Cardellini), in an episode of Freaks and Geeks.^[6] She and Segel dated for a few years following the show's cancellation.^[7][8] It was rumored that she dumped him for gaining twenty pounds,^[9] but it has since emerged that the statement was in fact a joke taken out of context.^[10]

Segel had recurring roles on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as Neil Jansen and on Undeclared as Eric. He currently plays Marshall on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Feature film appearances include Slackers, SLC Punk!, The Good Humor Man, and Dead Man on Campus. In 2007, he appeared in Knocked Up, directed by Freaks and Geeks producer Judd Apatow. Segel starred in the lead role of 2008's Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a film he wrote and Apatow produced, with Shauna Robertson, for Universal Pictures. His most recent film I Love You, Man was released on March 20,^[11] 2009 by Dreamworks.

Segel, along with Nicholas Stoller, has recently been enlisted by Disney to write the next Muppets film. In Forgetting Sarah Marshall Segel's character writes a "Dracula" musical performed by puppets. In an interview with Opie and Anthony, when they were on 104.1 WBCN in Boston, he stated the Dracula musical with puppets, as well as being broken up with while naked, were real experiences he wrote into the movie. Those cloth creatures were custom-made by the Henson puppeteers, and the experience emboldened Segel to pitch his concept for a Muppets movie.^[12]

Filmography

Film

Segel with co-stars Rashida Jones and Paul Rudd for the premiere of I Love You, Man in March 2009

Television

References

External links

• Jason Segel at the Internet Movie Database
• Jason Segel on National Public Radio in 2009
• Bio on Freaks and Geeks official website
• Bio on How I Met Your Mother official website
• Spontaneously singing a duet from the musical Les Misérables with How I Met Your Mother co-star Neil Patrick Harris while the cast were guests on The Megan Mullally Show in December 2006.
• Jason Segel Interview