Jason Biggs
| Jason Biggs | |
|---|---|
 Biggs at the American Reunion premiere in Sydney 2012. |
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| Born | Jason Matthew Biggs May 12, 1978 [1] Pompton Plains, New Jersey, The United States |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1991 – present |
| Spouse(s) | Jenny Mollen (2008–present) |
Jason Matthew Biggs (born May 12, 1978) is an American actor best known for his role as Jim Levenstein in the American Pie series of teen comedy films & the current voice of Leonardo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
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Personal life [edit]
Biggs was born in the Pompton Plains section of Pequannock Township, New Jersey. His mother, Angela (née Zocco), is a nurse, and his father, Gary Louis Biggs, is a shipping company manager.[2][3][4] He grew up in nearby Hasbrouck Heights and attended Hasbrouck Heights High School there.[5][6] Biggs had success in tennis while in high school.[7]
Biggs' father is of English and Italian descent and Biggs' mother is of Sicilian descent; his surname comes from his English ancestry.[3] He was raised Roman Catholic.[8] Biggs has stated in interviews that he is sometimes cast as an explicitly or implicitly Jewish character, as he was in American Pie (other examples include his roles in Saving Silverman and Anything Else), though he is not Jewish himself.[8][9][10]
In January 2008, he became engaged to his My Best Friend's Girl co-star, actress Jenny Mollen; they married on April
23, 2008.[11] He currently resides in Los Angeles, California. During the 2012 Republican National Convention, Biggs tweeted controversial statements that garnered media attention.[12][13]
Career [edit]
Biggs began acting at the age of five. In 1991, he made his television debut in the short lived Fox network series Drexell's Class. He also made a one-off HBO special, The Fotis Sevastakis Story, but due to licensing arguments, it was never aired. That same year, Biggs debuted on Broadway in Conversations with My Father, which helped pave the way for him to participate in the daytime soap opera, As the World Turns. He was nominated for the award of Best Younger Actor at the daytime Emmy Awards for his role.
Biggs attended New York University briefly from 1996–1997, but soon afterwards, he returned to pursue his acting. And so he would be seen again in another short lived television series, 1997's Camp Stories. He then starred in American Pie, which went on to become an international hit that has spawned three sequels (also starring Biggs) and four spinoffs (that did not star Biggs). After that, Biggs accepted starring roles in movies such as Loser in 2000, and others. He appeared in the 2002 Broadway production of The Graduate as Benjamin Braddock alongside Kathleen Turner and Alicia Silverstone. In 2003, Biggs appeared in what critics consider to be his best acting role, that of Jerry Falk, in the Woody Allen romantic comedy Anything Else. In the 2004–2005 season Biggs portrayed an Orthodox Jew in Daniel Goldfarb's comedy, Modern Orthodox, staged at Dodger Stages theater in New York City. In 2006, Biggs was seen in the MTV reality show Blowin' Up with Jamie Kennedy and Stu Stone which led to his participation in a hip-hop recording with Bay Area rapper E-40. Jason returned to the stage in the fall of 2008 in Howard Korder's Boys' Life at New York City's Second Stage Theatre.
He has appeared in several other films, including Texas Rangers, Scary Movie and Over Her Dead Body.
In 2010, he made his literary debut by contributing "Scratch-and-Sniff," a poem about growing up in New Jersey, to the anthology What's Your Exit? A Literary Detour through New Jersey (Word Riot Press, 2010), alongside writers such as Joyce Carole Oates, Tom Perrotta, Robert Pinsky, Gerald Stern, and J. Robert Lennon.
He reprised his role as Jim Levenstein in American Reunion, which was released on April 6, 2012.
In the summer of 2012, Jason took a job voicing Leonardo on Nickelodeon in the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
He also plays the cowbell in the supergroup Yukon Kornelius.
Filmography [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ "Monitor". Entertainment Weekly (1207) (Time Inc.). May 18, 2012. p. 29.
- ^ Jason Biggs profile at FilmReference.com
- ^ a b Kevin Pollak interview: KPCS Jason Biggs #145, at 32 minute mark
- ^ http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/northjersey/obituary.aspx?n=assunta-biggs-susan-furno&pid=144047623
- ^ McKinley, Jesse. "THEATER; Bye, Bye 'American Pie'; Mrs. Robinson Is Calling", The New York Times, March 31, 2002. Accessed March 3, 2008. "Unlike that character, Mr. Biggs was proving to be a pretty normal teenager, playing high school tennis and holding a series of menial jobs (flower delivery boy, sandwich maker, kitchen staff at a hospital). In 1996, he graduated from Hasbrouck Heights High School and started at New York University, where he enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences."
- ^ TeenHollywood.com – Jason Biggs is Hot
- ^ Della Cava, Marco R. (July 25, 2000). "Acting dreams no longer 'Pie' in the sky Huggable Jason Biggs is on a roll after losing his cinematic virginity". USA Today.
- ^ a b "A Nice Not-Jewish Boy"
- ^ Jason Biggs profile at Times Online
- ^ http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/theticket/2012/1109/1224326339931.html
- ^ Jason Biggs gets hitched!
- ^ http://www.salon.com/2012/11/13/jason_biggss_vulgar_tweets/singleton/
- ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/13/jason-biggs-twitter-american-pie-political-tweets_n_2122394.html
- ^ http://www.reelzchannel.com/movie-news/9613/american-pie-cast-reunites-for-fourth-sequel/
- ^ Goldberg, Lesley (September 12, 2012). "Jason Biggs to Co-Star in Netflix's 'Orange Is the New Black' (Exclusive)". .hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
External links [edit]
- Jason Biggs at the Internet Movie Database
- Jason Biggs at AllRovi
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- 1978 births
- Actors from New Jersey
- American film actors
- American people of Italian descent
- American people of English descent
- American people of Sicilian descent
- American soap opera actors
- American stage actors
- American television actors
- American voice actors
- 20th-century American actors
- 21st-century American actors
- Living people
- Montclair State University alumni
- People from Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey
- People from Pequannock Township, New Jersey
