Jonah Hill

Jonah Hill Feldstein (born December 20, 1983) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is known for his comedic roles in films including ''Superbad'' (2007), ''Knocked Up'' (2007), ''21 Jump Street'' (2012), '' This Is the End'' (2013), and ''22 Jump Street'' (2014). For his performances in ''Moneyball'' (2011) and '' The Wolf of Wall Street'' (2013), he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Hill ranked 28th on ''Forbes'' magazine's list of highest-paid actors from June 2014 to June 2015, at $16million. In 2020, he was found to have sworn on film more than any other actor. As a screenwriter, he contributed to the stories of ''21 Jump Street'', ''22 Jump Street'', ''Sausage Party'' and ''Why Him?'' In 2018, he starred in the Netflix dark comedy miniseries ''Maniac'' and made his directorial debut with the film ''Mid90s,'' for which he also wrote the screenplay.

Hill has provided voices for the animated films ''Horton Hears a Who!'' (2008), ''Megamind'' (2010), ''How to Train Your Dragon'' (2010–2019), ''The Lego Movie'' (2014) and '' The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part'' (2019).

Early life and education

Hill was born on December 20, 1983, in Los Angeles to Sharon Lyn (), a costume designer and fashion stylist, and Richard Feldstein, a tour accountant for Guns N' Roses. He has a younger sister, actress Beanie Feldstein (born 1993); their older brother, Jordan Feldstein (1977–2017), was a music manager for Robin Thicke and Maroon 5 until his sudden death at age 40 from a DVT/pulmonary embolism. Their parents were originally from Long Island, New York, and the family vacationed in the Catskill Mountains.

Hill and his siblings were raised in the wealthy Los Angeles neighborhood of Cheviot Hills, where he continues to reside, and attended the Center for Early Education, Brentwood School, and then Crossroads School in Santa Monica. He worked at Hot Rod Skateboard Shop on Westwood Boulevard in Los Angeles. After graduating from high school in 2002, he attended The New School and the University of Colorado Boulder, but did not earn a degree.

Hill is Jewish, and had a bar mitzvah ceremony.

Career

2000s: Comedy roles

In college, Hill began writing his own plays and performing them in the ''Black and White'' bar in the East Village neighborhood of New York City. His plays developed a small following and helped him realize that his true desire was to act in films. He was befriended by Dustin Hoffman's children, Rebecca and Jake, who introduced him to their father. The elder Hoffman asked him to audition for a role in ''I Heart Huckabees'', in which Hill made his film debut.

Hill then made a brief appearance in Judd Apatow's directorial debut, ''The 40-Year-Old Virgin'', which led to his appearing in the role of a virgin video game tester in the comedy '' Grandma's Boy'' (2006), and roles in the comedies ''Accepted'' and '' Click'', playing Adam Sandler's character's son in the latter. He had a larger supporting role in the Apatow-directed ''Knocked Up'' (2007). On television he played the "RA Guy" on the first season of the Oxygen Network sitcom ''Campus Ladies, and'' guest-starred in an episode of '' Clark and Michael''.

His first leading role was in the Apatow-produced comedy ''Superbad,'' where he appeared with Michael Cera, in roles based on the teen years of the film's writers, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. It is often cited as the film that launched Hill's and Cera's careers. He followed it with an uncredited role as Dewey Cox's brother Nate in '' Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story'' in December 2007. He hosted ''Saturday Night Live'' on March 15, 2008, featuring musical guest Mariah Carey.

He next starred in Judd Apatow's third directorial feature, ''Funny People'' (2009) which also starred Adam Sandler, Eric Bana and Seth Rogen. He played Cooker in Fred Wolf's '' Strange Wilderness''. He was an associate producer of the 2009 Sacha Baron Cohen mockumentary ''Brüno''. He guest starred in ''The Simpsons'' episode "Pranks and Greens", portraying an immature man named Andy Hamilton who was hailed the best prankster in Springfield Elementary School history.

2010s

Seeking more work in independent film, Hill turned down a role as one of the three principals in ''The Hangover'' to work with directors Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass in ''Cyrus'' (2010).

In July 2011, he appeared at ESPN's ESPY Awards sporting a much slimmer physique, stating he had lost . In November 2011, along with Sam Worthington and Dwight Howard, he starred in commercials for the video game '' Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3'', making his first appearance with his new look. Also in 2011, he created the Fox animated series ''Allen Gregory'' with Andrew Mogel and Jarrad Paul. It received very negative reviews and was canceled by Fox on January 8, 2012.

In 2011, Hill starred in Bennett Miller's feature film ''Moneyball'' with Brad Pitt and Philip Seymour Hoffman. It garnered favorable reviews. Critics noted Hill's performance as a departure from his usual comedy roles. He received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture; and in late January 2012, received his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for the role.

In 2012, Hill co-starred with Channing Tatum in the film ''21 Jump Street''. It received an 84% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Later that year, Hill starred in the film '' The Watch'' with Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn.

In 2011, it was announced that Hill was in talks to appear in Quentin Tarantino's film ''Django Unchained''. Citing a possible conflict with his commitment to ''The Watch'', Hill lamented that to act in a Tarantino movie was "the perfect next step" in his career. He was able to join the ''Django Unchained'' cast in a minor role, and it was released in 2012. He was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2012.

In 2013, Hill appeared in '' This Is the End'' as himself, and in the biographical film '' The Wolf of Wall Street,'' and received his second Academy Award nomination for his work on the latter. In an interview with Howard Stern on January 21, 2014, Hill said he had accepted SAG's minimum wage of 60,000 for ''Wolf of Wall Street.''

He voiced the Green Lantern in the adventure comedy ''The Lego Movie'' in February 2014, which blends computer animation and live action. He reprised his role as Morton Schmidt in ''22 Jump Street'' (2014), the sequel to ''21 Jump Street''. His next performance was as Michael Finkel in the mystery thriller '' True Story'' (2015), with James Franco. In 2016, he played a surety agent for a production company in the Coen brothers' period comedy ''Hail, Caesar!'' and starred alongside Miles Teller in the biographical crime war comedy-drama ''War Dogs'' (2016) playing