Jeremy Samuel Piven is an American film producer and actor best known for his role as Ari Gold
in the television series Entourage for which he has won one Golden Globe Award and three
consecutive Emmy Awards as well as several other nominations for Best Supporting Actor.
Early years Piven was born in Manhattan, New York City,
and grew up in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago.
He was raised in a Reconstructionist Jewish household.
He graduated from Evanston Township High School, and attended Harand Theater Camp in Elkhart
Lake, Wisconsin, as a teenager.
He played the part of "Bernardo" in West Side Story there.
In Illinois, he trained at Piven Theatre Workshop, founded by his parents, Byrne Piven and Joyce
Hiller Piven, both of whom were actors and drama teachers.
He also attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where he earned a degree in theatre,
and is an alumnus of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.
He spent a semester at the National Theater Institute in Waterford, Connecticut.
He has appeared in a number of films with John Cusack, who is also from Evanston and
is a fellow alumnus of the Piven Theatre Workshop.
Piven and Cusack once shared an apartment and have been friends since high school.
Career Piven's first important role came in 1992
when he became a regular cast member on HBO's The Larry Sanders Show, in which he played
the head writer Jerry.
In 1993, he portrayed George Costanza on the show-within-a-show scene in the Seinfeld episode,
"The Pilot".
Piven has appeared in several successful films, including Lucas, Grosse Pointe Blank, Singles,
Very Bad Things, The Family Man, Black Hawk Down, The Kingdom, Heat, PCU, Old School,
Rock N Rolla, Serendipity, Smokin' Aces, and Runaway Jury.
He has also made cameo appearances in Rush Hour 2 and the US release of Cars.
Beginning in 2004, Piven scored a significant success playing a fast-talking, acerbic 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.
2009 was the first year in which he did not receive an Emmy Award nomination for his work
on Entourage.
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.
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.
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 habit of consuming fish twice a day for the past 20 years.
An alternative explanation is that the herbal remedies Piven was taking were responsible
for his high levels of mercury.
Mamet joked that Piven was leaving the play "to pursue a career as a thermometer."
On September 1, 2009, Piven, in a guest appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, explained
that he had given up red meat and poultry, and had been getting all of his protein from
fish for the past 20 years.
William H. Macy and Norbert Leo Butz replaced Piven in the Broadway show.
In August 2011, Piven stated he was interested in portraying the drummer from the Who, Keith
Moon.
In 2013 he played the title role in the British television drama series Mr Selfridge, the
story of the London department store Selfridges.
The show airs on the ITV network in the United Kingdom and PBS in the United States.
Personal life Piven was born to Jewish parents and considers
himself a Jewish Buddhist.
He starred in the Travel Channel special Jeremy Piven's Journey of a Lifetime detailing his
journey across India.
Piven resides in Malibu, California.
Filmography Film
Television Awards and nominations
References
External links Jeremy Piven on Twitter
Jeremy Piven at the Internet Movie Database Works by or about Jeremy Piven in libraries
Jeremy Piven collected news and commentary at The Guardian
Jeremy Piven collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Interview on WHO.com with Jeremy Piven and Doug Ellin
Piven on "Speed-The-Plow" and Mercury Poisoning at Yahoo!
Jeremy Piven at Emmys.com