Samuel Franklin Levine (born March 12, 1982) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Neal Schweiber on NBC's ''

Freaks and Geeks ''Freaks and Geeks'' is an American teen comedy-drama television series created by Paul Feig and executive-produced by Judd Apatow that aired on NBC during the 1999–2000 television season. The show is set in a suburban high school near ...

'' and PFC Hirschberg in the 2009 film ''

Inglourious Basterds ''Inglourious Basterds'' is a 2009 epic film, epic war film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars an ensemble cast including Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl, Til Schweiger ...

''. Levine was also the sidekick and fill-in host on the internet talk show '' Kevin Pollak's Chat Show''. Levine was a regular competitor on Collider's ''Movie Trivia Schmoedown''.

Early life

Levine was born in Park Ridge,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, the son of Lynne, a mortgage broker, and Harris Levine, a

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental doctor, dental physician, dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry, the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. The dentist's supporting team aids in provi ...

. He was raised in

Fort Lee, New Jersey Fort Lee is a Borough (New Jersey), borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop The Palisades (Hudson River), The Palisades. As of the 2020 Uni ...

. Levine is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

Career

Levine began performing

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage (theatre), stage and delivers humour, humorous and satire, satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical comedy, physical acts. These ...

bar mitzvah A ''bar mitzvah'' () or ''bat mitzvah'' () is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. According to Halakha, Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish children reach that age ...

s at age 12. After seeing him perform,

Lisa Kudrow Lisa Valerie Kudrow ( ; born July 30, 1963) is an American actress. She rose to international fame for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the American television sitcom ''Friends'', which aired from 1994 to 2004. The series earned her Primetime Emmy A ...

advised him that he should start auditioning in Manhattan. When Levine began his acting career, he added the extra "M" to his name as there was already a Sam Levine registered with the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

. Levine was cast as a character in the sixth and final season of ABC's '' Lost'' in a small role that was written for him by ''Lost'' co-creator Damon Lindelof. Lindelof had frequently told Levine, "I'm going to write you something on the show". Levine played a clerk in the twelfth episode " Everybody Loves Hugo". He regularly appears on Doug Benson's ''Doug Loves Movies'' podcasts and fills in as host of the

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...

Game when not taped in front of a live studio audience so Benson can play the game as a contestant. Benson has nicknamed Levine both "Samm the Ma'am Levine" and "Lil' Wolverine". Benson referred to 2011 as "The Summer of Samm" because Levine played the game so frequently and competitively. Levine has been a regular participant on '' Kevin Pollak's Chat Show'' since the 1st episode on March 22, 2009, when he was the second guest. He was a guest on Episode 19 as well, just as the show was about to evolve to one guest for the duration of an episode. In February 2014, Levine was voted 99th in

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

's Top 100 Child Stars. Levine was a regular competitor on Collider's ''Movie Trivia Schmoedown'' where, on December 22, 2017, he won the singles championship. On May 15, 2018, he won the team championship.

Personal life

In March 2020, editor and fellow ''Movie Trivia Schmoedown'' competitor Rachel Cushing announced that she and Levine were engaged. The couple married in May 2022.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

Written works

* ''Strip Poker'' (1999)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Levine, Samm 1982 births 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Actors from Park Ridge, Illinois American people of Austrian-Jewish descent American male child actors Jewish American male actors American male comedians American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors Living people Comedians from Illinois 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American Jews Jewish American comedians Jewish male comedians American stand-up comedians Actors from Fort Lee, New Jersey Comedians from Bergen County, New Jersey Male actors from New Jersey