Jason Segel

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Jason Segel
Segel in 2017
Born
Jason Jordan Segel

(1980-01-18) January 18, 1980 (age 44)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
EducationHarvard-Westlake School
Occupations
  • Actor
  • writer
  • musician
Years active1998–present

Jason Jordan Segel (/ˈsiːɡəl/ SEE-gəl; born January 18, 1980) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Marshall Eriksen in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother from 2005 to 2014. He began his career with director and producer Judd Apatow on the television series Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000) and Undeclared (2001–2002) before gaining prominence for his leading roles in various successful comedy films in which he has starred, written, and produced.

Segel has starred in many comedic films such as Knocked Up (2007), Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), I Love You, Man (2009), Bad Teacher (2011), The Five-Year Engagement (2012), This Is 40 (2012), and Sex Tape (2014), as well as family films such as Despicable Me (2010), and The Muppets (2011). For his role as David Foster Wallace in The End of the Tour (2015) he received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead. He also starred in the dramas Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2011), The Discovery (2017), Our Friend (2019), and Windfall (2022). From 2022 to 2023, he played the role of Paul Westhead in the HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.

In 2023, he began starring as a therapist in the Apple TV+ series Shrinking, which he also co-created alongside Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein. For his performance, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

Early life[edit]

Segel was born on January 18, 1980, in Santa Monica, California, to Jillian (née Jordan; born 1952) and Alvin Segel, a lawyer.[1][2][3][4] He grew up in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood.[5] He has an older brother, Adam,[1][6] and a younger sister, Alison.[7]

Segel's father is Jewish,[8][9][10] whereas his mother is of English, Scottish, Irish, and French descent.[11] He has stated that he was raised Jewish,[12] as well as "a little bit of everything".[13] Segel went to Hebrew school and had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony, and also attended St. Matthew's Parish School, a private Episcopal school.[9][14][15]

Following elementary school and middle school, Segel completed his high school studies at Harvard-Westlake School, where his 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) frame helped him as an active member of the 1996 and 1997 CIF state champion boys' basketball team.[16][17] He won a slam dunk contest in high school[18] and he was nicknamed "Dr. Dunk."[19] He was a backup to the team's star center, Jason Collins, who went on to play in the NBA.[16]

Career[edit]

A man holds a microphone as he speaks
Segel at the Austin premiere of I Love You, Man in 2009

Segel's first major role was as stoner "freak" Nick Andopolis on the critically acclaimed but short-lived 1999 NBC comedy-drama series Freaks and Geeks. The series revolved around a group of suburban Detroit high school students circa 1980. Segel personally composed a song for his character, Nick, to sing to the lead female character, Lindsay (Linda Cardellini).[20]

Segel had recurring roles on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as Neil Jansen and on Undeclared as Eric. He played Marshall Eriksen on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother; he had previously stated he would move on to other projects in 2013 when his contract expired,[21] but was convinced to finish the series after its ninth season in 2014.[22]

Segel made his film debut with Can't Hardly Wait in 1998. His other early 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. He also starred in I Love You, Man, which was released on March 20, 2009, by DreamWorks.[23]

In Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Segel's character writes a "Dracula" musical performed by puppets. He also appeared in the most prominent scene containing full frontal nudity in the film.[24] In an interview,[25] he stated that 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 Jim Henson Company, and the experience emboldened Segel to pitch his concept for a Muppets movie.[26] Segel performed a song from the film, "Dracula's Lament", on the 1000th episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.[27]

A man smiles as he waves
Segel at the Australian premiere of The Muppets in Sydney in 2011

For the 2010 comedy Get Him to the Greek, Segel co-wrote most of the soundtrack's music which was performed by the fictional celebrity singer, Aldous Snow, including Infant Sorrow. He also appeared on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and sang an original song entitled "Wonky Eyed Girl".[28]

In 2010, he voiced Gru's arch-rival Vector in the Universal's CGI animated film, Despicable Me and appeared as "Horatio" in a fantasy comedy film Gulliver's Travels directed by Rob Letterman and very loosely based on Part One of the 18th-century novel of the same name by Jonathan Swift. Segel appeared in Bad Teacher, starring Cameron Diaz, which opened in June 2011. He played gym teacher and thwarted suitor Russell Gettis.[29] Along with Nicholas Stoller, Segel approached Disney in 2007 to write the latest Muppets film. Disney was unsure on how to take the request, as Segel had just done frontal nudity in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but after realizing that he was a fan, the project was approved. Segel stated that he wanted to do the film because the last film in the series to be released in theaters was Muppets from Space in 1999, and he felt that the younger generation was missing out on enjoying one of his childhood favorites.[30]

Segel decided not to star in the sequel to The Muppets, Muppets Most Wanted.[31] He filmed The Five-Year Engagement, with Emily Blunt, in spring 2011, in Michigan, and the film was released on April 27, 2012.[32]

In 2013, Segel revealed he was working on a series of young adult novels, based on a story he conceived when he was 21.[33] In the fall of 2014, the first novel of the series Nightmares!, co-written with Kirsten Miller, was released, with the followup coming out the following year.[34][35]

In 2015, Segel received praise[36][37][38] for his portrayal of the late author David Foster Wallace in the independent biographical drama film The End of the Tour. For his performance, he earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Male Lead.[39]

In 2017, Segel and Miller released a new book, Otherworld, the first of a new young adult series. A second book in the series, OtherEarth, was released in 2018, and a third novel, OtherLife, in 2019. Segel created and starred in the American drama television series Dispatches from Elsewhere, which premiered on March 1, 2020, on AMC.

In 2019, Segel starred in Our Friend based on Matthew Teague's 2015 essay "The Friend".[40]

Personal life[edit]

Segel is an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church.[41] He performed a wedding ceremony on The Tonight Show on July 6, 2010, for a couple that solicited his services by placing pictures of him around his hometown and the bar he frequently visited.[42]

Segel dated his Freaks and Geeks co-star Linda Cardellini for several years following the show's cancellation.[43] He dated Michelle Williams from 2012 to 2013.[44] From December 2013 to April 2021, Segel dated photographer Alexis Mixter.[45][46]

Filmography[edit]

Segel, Neil Patrick Harris and Joss Whedon in 2011

Film[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1998 Can't Hardly Wait Matt
1998 Dead Man on Campus Kyle
1998 SLC Punk! Mike
2002 Slackers Sam Schechter
2003 11:14 Leon (Paramedic #1)
2003 Certainly Not a Fairytale Leo
2004 LolliLove Jason
2005 The Good Humor Man Smelly Bob
2006 Bye Bye Benjamin Theodore Everest
2006 Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny Frat Boy Deleted scenes
2007 Knocked Up Jason
2008 Forgetting Sarah Marshall Peter Bretter Also writer
2009 I Love You, Man Sydney Fife
2010 Despicable Me Victor "Vector" Perkins (voice)
2010 Gulliver's Travels Horatio
2011 Bad Teacher Russell Gettis
2011 Friends with Benefits Brice Uncredited cameo
2011 Jeff, Who Lives at Home Jeff Thompkins
2011 The Muppets Gary Also writer and executive producer
2012 The Five-Year Engagement Tom Solomon Also writer and executive producer
2012 This Is 40 Jason
2013 This Is the End Himself Uncredited cameo
2014 Sex Tape Jay Hargrove Also writer and executive producer
2015 The End of the Tour David Foster Wallace
2017 The Discovery Will Harbor
2018 Come Sunday Henry
2019 Our Friend[47] Dane Faucheux
2022 The Sky Is Everywhere[48] Big Walker
2022 Windfall[49] Nobody Also story writer and producer
2023 Mooned[50] Victor "Vector" Perkins (voice) Short film

Television[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1999–2000 Freaks and Geeks Nick Andopolis Main role; 18 episodes
2001 North Hollywood Unaired pilot[51]
2001–2002 Undeclared Eric 7 episodes
2004 Harry Green and Eugene Eugene Green Unaired pilot[52]
2004–2005 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Neil Jansen 3 episodes
2005 Alias Sam Hauser Episode: "The Road Home"
2005–2014 How I Met Your Mother Marshall Eriksen Main role; 208 episodes
2009 Family Guy Marshall Eriksen (voice) Episode: "Peter's Progress"
2011 Saturday Night Live Himself (host) Episode: "Jason Segel/Florence and the Machine"
2020 Dispatches from Elsewhere Peter 10 episodes; also creator, writer, director, and executive producer
2020 Home Movie: The Princess Bride[53] Fezzik Episode: "Chapter Two: The Shrieking Eels"
2022–2023 Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty Paul Westhead 12 episodes
2023–present Shrinking[54] Jimmy Laird Main role; also creator, writer, and executive producer

Awards and nominations[edit]

Year Title Award Category Result
2000 21st Young Artist Awards Best Performance in a TV Series: Young Ensemble Freaks and Geeks Nominated
2008 MTV Movie Award Best WTF Moment Forgetting Sarah Marshall Nominated
2008 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie: Breakout Male Nominated
2011 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Critics Choice Award for Best Song The Muppets Won
2011 Georgia Film Critics Association Awards Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated
2011 8th SLGFCA Awards Best Adapted Screenplay (shared with Nicholas Stoller) Nominated
2015 35th Golden Raspberry Awards[55] Worst Screen Combo (share with Cameron Diaz) Sex Tape Nominated
2015 Worst Screenplay (share with Kate Angelo, Nicholas Stoller) Nominated
2015 Seattle International Film Festival Best Actor The End of the Tour 3rd Place
2015 Indiana Film Journalist Association Award Best Actor Runner-up
2015 Independent Spirit Awards Best Male Lead Nominated
2015 San Diego Film Critics Society Awards Best Actor Nominated
2015 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Best Actor Nominated
2024 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Shrinking Nominated
2024 Golden Globe Awards Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy Nominated[56]

References[edit]

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  2. ^ Mills, Nancy (July 8, 2010). "'Despicable Me' star Jason Segel really gets into his roles". USA Today. Archived from the original on July 11, 2010. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
  3. ^ "Now Trending: Jason Segel reveals he made his mother cry with full-frontal nudity scene". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
  4. ^ "Jason Segel – Latest news, videos, and information". today.com. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
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  6. ^ "Jason Segel Explains the Mysteries of Guydom". Fresh Air. October 16, 2009. Archived from the original on June 18, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  7. ^ Abele, Robert (April 13, 2008). "This breakup really broke up Jason Segel". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 17, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  8. ^ Tobin, Andrew (July 30, 2015). "Actor Jason Segel opens up about childhood as Jewish outsider". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Archived from the original on July 5, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
  9. ^ a b Pfefferman, Naomi (March 15, 2012). "Segel's starry-eyed man-child amuses and moves us". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Archived from the original on July 5, 2018. Retrieved August 10, 2012.
  10. ^ "Jason Segel: The Best Man For The Job". NPR. March 23, 2009. Archived from the original on July 5, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
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  14. ^ Elkin, Michael (March 19, 2009). "Who Loves Ya, Man?". Jewish Exponent. Archived from the original on March 31, 2009. Retrieved March 19, 2009.
  15. ^ Andrew Tobin, "Actor Jason Segel opens up about childhood as Jewish outsider" Archived August 2, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, July 30, 2015
    |...attending Christian school during the day and Hebrew school at night. "At Christian school you're the Jewish kid, and at Hebrew school you're the Christian kid. I think that's the nature of groups," he said. "And so everyone wants to compartmentalize people. And I think I decided at that point, like OK, its me versus the world, kind of."
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  20. ^ "gbdesigns.com". "The William S. Paley Television Festival: A Dedication to 'Freaks and Geeks'". Archived from the original on February 10, 2007. Retrieved January 12, 2007.
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  22. ^ Finke, Nikki (December 21, 2012). "EXCLUSIVE: 'How I Met Your Mother' To Return For Season 9; Cast Deals Closed Today After Jason Segel Turnaround; Show Was Given Up For Dead Until 11th Hour". Deadline. Archived from the original on April 10, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
  23. ^ Vilkomerson, Sara (March 10, 2009). A Romantic Comedy About Two Straight Men: John Hamburg's I Love You, Man May be the First Dude Flick With a Heart Archived March 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine (HTML). The New York Observer, LLC. Retrieved on March 11, 2009
  24. ^ "Jason Segel Goes Full-Frontal In "Forgetting Sarah Marshall"". The Huffington Post. April 25, 2008. Archived from the original on September 6, 2012. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
  25. ^ Opie and Anthony, 104.1 WBCN in Boston
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  27. ^ Evans, Anderson (December 16, 2009). "Jason Segel Performs Puppet Opera on 1000th Episode of The Late, Late Show". Gawker. Archived from the original on October 3, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  28. ^ Craig Ferguson has Jason Segel serenade his "Wonky Eyed Girl". YouTube. Archived from the original on April 6, 2016. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
  29. ^ Dargis, Manohla, "When the Teacher Gets High Marks in the Raunchy and the Profane" Archived December 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, June 24, 2011. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  30. ^ Jay Leno. "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno – Jason Segel, Part 2 (11/8/11) – Video". NBC.com. Archived from the original on April 18, 2012. Retrieved August 10, 2012.
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  32. ^ "'Five-Year Engagement': 7 Things You Didn't Know About Jason Segel and Emily Blunt". The Hollywood Reporter. April 23, 2012. Archived from the original on December 3, 2020. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  33. ^ "Jason Segel writing young adult book series". 3 News NZ. April 8, 2013. Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  34. ^ Jason Segel Sells Three-Book Children's Series Archived December 8, 2019, at the Wayback Machine hollywoodreport.com, April 23, 2013
  35. ^ Children's Audiobooks – Jason Segel Reads "Nightmares!" Archived August 27, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, New York Times, November 21, 2014.
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  39. ^ McNary, Dave (November 24, 2015). "'Carol', 'Spotlight', 'Beasts of No Nation' Lead Spirit Awards Nominations". Independent Spirit Awards. Variety. Archived from the original on November 25, 2015. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
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  41. ^ "Ordained Minister Jason Segel Marries Couple on 'Tonight Show' (VIDEO)". Aoltv.com. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved August 10, 2012.
  42. ^ Karpel, Ari (December 10, 2010). "Kevin Smith, Kathy Griffin and Jason Segel Officiate at Weddings". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 6, 2017. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
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  44. ^ "Inside Michelle Williams' Love Life Since Heath Ledger: From Jason Segal to Her New Husband". People. Archived from the original on November 26, 2020. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
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  49. ^ Weintraub, Steve (March 23, 2022). "Jason Segel on 'Windfall,' What His Character Represents, and Why Making the Movie Was Like Film Camp". Collider. Archived from the original on July 11, 2022. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  50. ^ Eclarinal, Aeron Mer (November 20, 2023). "Despicable Me Studio Announces Surprise New Spin-off Releasing Next Month". The Direct. Archived from the original on November 20, 2023. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
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  54. ^ "Shrinking: Apple TV+ Orders New Comedy Series Starring Jason Segel". October 14, 2021.
  55. ^ "RAZZIES Celebrate 35 Years of Worst Achievements in Film with Inclusive Nominees List ...and New "Redeemer" Award". Golden Raspberry Award Foundation. Archived from the original on January 15, 2015. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  56. ^ "Winners & Nominees". Golden Globes. Archived from the original on January 8, 2024. Retrieved January 8, 2024.

External links[edit]

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