Best Known As: Scheming Ari Gold on TV's Entourage
Jeremy Piven won his third Emmy in 2008 for his supporting role as Hollywood agent Ari Gold in the HBO series Entourage. Piven grew up in Evanston, Illinois in a theater family: his parents, Byrne and Joyce Piven, began Chicago's Piven Theatre Workshop in the 1970s. Piven studied acting in Illinois and New York and began getting work in Hollywood in the 1980s. Steadily employed on stage and screen ever since, until his gig on Entourage made him a TV star in 2004 Piven was known to most as "that guy who's in all those John Cusack movies." Piven and Cusack are childhood friends who have appeared in several movies together -- coincidentally, according to Piven. They include Say Anything (1989), The Grifters (1990), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) and Runaway Jury (2003). Despite the demands of series television with Entourage, Piven stays busy on the big screen and on stage, specializing in loud, gabby types. His films include Twenty Bucks (1993, with Brendan Fraser), Old School (2003, starring Will Ferrell) and Smokin' Aces (2006, starring Ryan Reynolds).
Career Highlights: Don King: Only In America, The Family Man, Judgment Night
First Major Screen Credit: The Larry Sanders Show: Season 01 (1992)
Biography
Classically trained character actor Jeremy Piven shot to stardom as Ellen DeGeneres' unforgettable, sharp-witted cousin Spence on the ABC sitcom Ellen. Born in New York City on July 26, 1965, Piven is the son of actors Byrne and Joyce Piven. He grew up in Evanston, IL, where his parents founded the Piven Theater Workshop. He studied theater at his parents' school alongside Lili Taylor, Rosanna Arquette, and pal John Cusack. The longtime friends, who began by performing Chekhov at age eight, have collaborated on several films -- including One Crazy Summer (1986), Say Anything (1989), The Grifters (1990), Floundering (1994), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), and Serendipity (2001). They also co-founded the New Criminals Theater Company in 1989, which is now New Crime Productions, the company behind Grosse Pointe Blank and the Cusack vehicle High Fidelity (2002).
A former member of the Second City National Touring Company, Piven made his small-screen debut on Carol Burnett's short-lived variety show Carol and Company in 1990. He went on to play a writer on HBO's The Larry Sanders Show and to appear on Seinfeld before starring as an unemployed father on the short-lived series Pride & Joy. Disney, who produced Pride & Joy, then created a role for him on Ellen. After the sitcom's cancellation in April 1998, Piven landed his own show, the offbeat ABC comedy-drama Cupid. Also starring Piven's real-life neighbor Paula Marshall, Cupid followed the infamous matchmaker after he had been thrown out of heaven for bad behavior and attempted to earn his reentry by uniting 100 couples in true love without using his otherworldly powers. The series won critical acclaim and earned Piven quite a following. Yet, as with many of the network's more innovative shows, ABC mishandled Cupid, shuffling it in and out of prime time until its inevitable cancellation. Undaunted, Piven returned to television a year later to guest star on Will & Grace.
Then, in 2005, Piven scored the iconic role of Ari Gold on the HBO series Entourage. The show turned out to be a massive success, and Piven's profile was raised considerably, making him more of a household name, and helping him to score more interesting roles outside the show, like washed-out magician Buddy Isreal in the 2006 over-the-top action blow-out Smokin' Aces, and Damon Schmidt in the 2007 political thriller The Kingdom. In 2008, he joined the cast of the Guy Ritchie London crime movie RocknRolla. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide
Jeremy Samuel Piven (born July 26, 1965) is a three-time Emmy- 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.
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 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. Also in 2007, Piven appeared as Deputy Chief of Mission Damon Schmidt in The Kingdom. He 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, though the source is unknown. Rumours have indicated that the high level of mercury could potentially have been caused by Piven's excess habits of consuming sushi several times a day.[12] Mamet joked that Piven was leaving the play "to pursue a career as a thermometer".[13]William H. Macy replaced Piven in the Broadway show.[14]
