Glenn Rockowitz (born May 27, 1970) is an American writer, filmmaker, comedian and voice actor. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

Education and early career

Rockowitz was born in

Plainview, New York Plainview is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located near the North Shore of Long Island in the town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York, United States. The population of the CDP was 27,100. The Plainview post office has t ...

. Rockowitz spent the first eight years of his life in New York City (NYC). He left NYC to move to

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

, where he graduated from Arcadia High School in 1988. During high school, he served as class president. He then attended the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

, in Tucson, and then performed with the Second City in Chicago. After Second City, Rockowitz worked as a stand-up comedian based in Boston and New York, traveling across the US. In 1994 he became a writer for NBC's ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

''.

The Best Medicine Group

In 1995, he founded a nonprofit AIDS and cancer charity in NYC, known as The Best Medicine Group—an organization that brought live comedy shows into the homes of terminally-ill patients throughout the metropolitan New York area. In 2000,

NY1 NY1 (also officially known as Spectrum News NY1 and spoken as New York One) is an American cable news television channel founded by Time Warner Cable, which itself is owned by Charter Communications through its acquisition in May 2016. The channe ...

named Rockowitz the New Yorker of the Week for his efforts, five years after the organization was founded.

Filmmaking

Rockowitz wrote and directed the cult independent film ''Hacks'' in 2002. The film garnered many festival awards including Best Comedy at the

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, it is ...

, Best Picture at the Chicago Digital Film Festival, and Best Picture at the Orinda Film Festival outside of San Francisco. The film is a "tale, told

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

-style, of a handful of stand-up comedians plying their craft for a talent-poor talent agency ...

he film He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

points out the grim realities of the stand-up world when you're not quite ready for primetime, daytime or even remedial playtime". Comedians featured in the film include

Jim Gaffigan James Christopher Gaffigan (born July 7, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. His material often addresses fatherhood, laziness, food, religion, and general observations. He is regarded as a "clean" comic, using l ...

Michael Rispoli Michael Rispoli is an American character actor. He was a contender for the role of Tony Soprano in the HBO television series ''The Sopranos,'' but was ultimately cast as Jackie Aprile, a recurring character in the show’s first season. Rispo ...

, and

Victor Varnado Victor Varnado (born May 15, 1969) is an American stand up comedian and actor. He is African American and albinistic. He was born legally blind due to his albinism. He grew up in Huntsville, Alabama and later moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Care ...

Books

''Rodeo in Joliet'', a memoir of his battle with a very aggressive late-stage cancer, was released nationally on April 11, 2009. By early 2010, the book became a national bestseller and was subsequently optioned by director Matt Aselton to become a major motion picture, written by

Ryan Knighton Ryan Knighton (born 19. September 19, 1972 in Langley) is a Canadian writer best known for writing about his blindness, in books such as ''Cockeyed: A Memoir'' and ''C'mon Papa – Dispatches from a dad in the dark''. He teaches English and creati ...

for release in 2021. The story follows his diagnosis in 1998, when he was given three months to live at the age of 28, and the experimental treatment that led to his recovery. ''Cotton Teeth'', his newest book and companion memoir to ''Rodeo in Joliet'', was released on December 14, 2021, and was named to

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

Best Books of 2021.

Acting

Rockowitz has been the brand voice for

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

since 2007,

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic (T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland (T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobile ...

(for which he also wrote the ad copy) and

Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines is a major American airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is the sixth largest airline in North America when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and the numb ...

. In addition, he has been the voice actor on commercials for

WeatherTech WeatherTech is an American manufacturer of automobile accessories headquartered in Bolingbrook, Illinois. History WeatherTech was founded in 1989 by current CEO David MacNeil, who did not appreciate the quality of vehicle floor mats as they ...

Expedia Expedia Inc. is an online travel agency owned by Expedia Group, an American online travel shopping company based in Seattle. The website and mobile app can be used to book airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, cruise ships, and vacat ...

BlackBerry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...

Quiznos Quiz Holdings, LLC, doing business as Quiznos, is an American franchised fast-food restaurant based in Denver, Colorado, that specializes in offering toasted submarine sandwiches. It was founded in 1981 by Jimmy Lambatos and sold to Rick and R ...

Scion Scion may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities *Scion, a playable class in the game ''Path of Exile'' (2013) *Atlantean Scion, a device in the ''Tomb Raider'' video game series *Scions, an alien race in the video game ''Ba ...

PetSmart PetSmart is a privately held American chain of pet superstores, which sell pet products, services, and small pets. It is the leading North American pet company, and its direct competitor is Petco. Its indirect competitors are Amazon, Walmart, ...

, and the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rockowitz, Glenn 1970 births Living people University of Arizona alumni Writers from New York City American male comedians People from Plainview, New York Writers from Phoenix, Arizona Writers from Seattle Comedians from New York (state) American male screenwriters Film producers from New York (state) 21st-century American memoirists Philanthropists from New York (state) American male voice actors American stand-up comedians American comedy writers Film directors from New York City American male non-fiction writers Screenwriters from New York (state) Screenwriters from Washington (state) Screenwriters from Arizona Film producers from Arizona Film producers from Washington (state) 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American male writers