Erik Charles Nielsen (born May 8, 1981) is an American actor and comedian.
Early life
Nielsen was born in
West Sayville, New York. He is of
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
descent. Nielsen graduated from
Palm Bay High School
Palm Bay Magnet High School is a public high school located in Melbourne, Florida, north of the boundary of Palm Bay, Florida. It is part of the Brevard County School District.
History
The school originally opened as Southwest Junior High Sc ...
in 1999. While attending
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
, he was named the funniest comedian on campus. After continuing to hone his act at The Comedy Studio in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
, Massachusetts, he moved to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, California to do a Ph.D. program at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
, but withdrew before completion. Turning to comedy full-time, he got his first big break at the 2007
U.S. Comedy Arts Festival
The Comedy Festival, formerly known as the US Comedy Arts Festival, was a comedy festival that ran from 1995 to 2008. The festival included stand-up comedy performances, appearances by the casts of television shows, and has a film component calle ...
in
Aspen
Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the ''Populus'' genus.
Species
These species are called aspens:
*'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China ...
, Colorado.
Career
Nielsen is best known for his recurring role as Garrett Lambert in the television comedy series ''
Community
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...
'' from 2009 to 2015. His other acting credits include ''
Bad Milo
''Bad Milo!'' is a 2013 American horror comedy film written by Jacob Vaughan and Benjamin Hayes and directed by Jacob Vaughan. The film stars Ken Marino, Gillian Jacobs, Peter Stormare, Stephen Root, Mary Kay Place, and Patrick Warburton. The f ...
'' (2013) and the pilot episode of IFC's ''
Maron
Maron, also called Maroun or Maro ( syr, ܡܪܘܢ, '; ar, مارون; la, Maron; grc-gre, Μάρων), was a 4th-century Syrian Syriac Christian hermit monk in the Taurus Mountains whose followers, after his death, founded a religious Chris ...
''. He also starred in ''Erik the Librarian'', a web series created by
Brent Forrester
Brent Forrester is an American writer and producer, who has written for 6 Emmy Award-winning television comedies. He wrote several episodes of the animated television sitcom ''The Simpsons'' between 1993 and 1997. He has worked as a writer on ''T ...
.
Nielsen has appeared on
Just for Laughs, ''
Conan'', and on
HBO Canada
HBO (previously known as HBO Canada, and still referred to as such on social media) is a Television in Canada, Canadian premium television network from Crave (TV network), Crave (formerly The Movie Network), which is owned by Bell Media. The chan ...
's stand-up series ''Funny as Hell''.
On December 10, 2014 he appeared on
Ken Reid's TV Guidance Counselor Podcast.
Filmography
References
External links
*
Living people
American male actors
1981 births
Boston University alumni
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
People from Islip (town), New York
Comedians from New York (state)
21st-century American comedians
{{US-comedian-stub