Jonah Hill

Jonah Hill
Hill at a screening for This Is the End in June 2013
Born	Jonah Hill Feldstein December 20, 1983 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Education	The Center for Early Education Brentwood School Crossroads School
Alma mater	The New School
Occupation	Actor comedian producer
Years active	2004–present
Relatives	Beanie Feldstein (sister)

Jonah Hill Feldstein (born December 20, 1983), professionally known as Jonah Hill, is an American actor, producer, and comedian. Hill is known for his comedic roles in films such as Accepted (2006), Superbad (2007), Knocked Up (2007), 21 Jump Street (2012), This Is the End (2013), and 22 Jump Street (2014), as well as his performances in Moneyball (2011) and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), for which he received Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor.

Hill ranked 28th on Forbes magazine's ranking of world's highest paid actors from June 2014 to June 2015, bringing in US$16 million.^[1]

Early life

Jonah Hill Feldstein was born on December 20, 1983 in Los Angeles,^[2] to Sharon Lyn (née Chalkin), a costume designer and fashion stylist, and Richard Feldstein, a tour accountant for Guns N' Roses.^[3][4][5] He has a sister, Beanie Feldstein, who is also an actress.^[6][7] His parents were originally from Long Island, New York, and the family vacationed in the Catskills.^[8] He grew up in the wealthy Los Angeles neighborhood of Cheviot Hills, where he continues to live to this day,^[9][10] and attended The Center for Early Education, Brentwood School, and then Crossroads School, in Santa Monica. After graduating from high school, Hill attended Bard College,^[11] The New School^[12] and the University of Colorado Boulder.^[13][14] Hill is Jewish.^[15]

Career

Hill at 2010 San Diego Comic Con International

Early work

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.^[16] His plays developed a small following and helped him realize that his true desire was to act in films. Hill was befriended by Dustin Hoffman's children, Rebecca and Jake, who introduced Hill 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 eventually led to him appearing as in the role of a virgin video game tester in the comedy Grandma's Boy (2006) and starring in a larger supporting role in the Apatow-directed Knocked Up (2007). On television, Hill played the "RA Guy" on the first season of the Oxygen Network sitcom Campus Ladies. He guest-starred in an episode of Clark and Michael.^[17]

2007–2012

His first leading role was in the Apatow-produced comedy Superbad. Hill starred in the film alongside Michael Cera, in roles based on the film's writers, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.^[18] The film is often cited as the film that launched the careers of the two actors.^[19] He followed it with an uncredited role as Dewey Cox's grown-up brother, Nate Cox, in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story in December 2007.^[20]

He was scheduled to host Saturday Night Live on November 17, 2007, which would have featured musical guest Kid Rock, but the episode was canceled due to the Writers Guild of America strike, which took place between November 5, 2007 and February 12, 2008. Instead, he hosted the March 15, 2008, show, which featured musical guest Mariah Carey (who replaced the originally scheduled musical guest Janet Jackson).^[21] He guest-starred in an episode of Reno 911!, which aired on April 1, 2009.^[22]

Hill was in negotiations for a part in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen as Sam Witwicky's sidekick, but this did not go through.^[23] He next starred in Judd Apatow's third directorial feature, Funny People, which also starred Adam Sandler, Eric Bana and Seth Rogen. He was an associate producer of the 2009 Sacha Baron Cohen mockumentary Brüno.^[24] He guest starred on an episode of The Simpsons called "Pranks and Greens", portraying an immature man named Andy Hamilton who was hailed the best prankster in Springfield Elementary School history.^[25]

Hill at the Toronto International Film Festival 2011

In July 2011, Hill appeared at ESPN's ESPY awards sporting a much slimmer physique. He stated he had lost 40 pounds. In November 2011, Hill, along with Sam Worthington and Dwight Howard, starred in commercials for the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, making his first appearance with his new look.^[26]

Also in 2011, Hill, alongside Andrew Mogel and Jarrad Paul, created Allen Gregory,^[27] a cartoon series that received enormously negative reviews^[28] and was officially cancelled by Fox on January 8, 2012.^[29]

Hill received a Golden Globe nomination, his first nomination, for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for his performance in the 2011 sports film Moneyball, in which he portrayed his first dramatic role as Peter Brand.^[30] In late January 2012, Hill received his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role in Moneyball.^[31] In 2012, Hill co-starred with Channing Tatum in the film 21 Jump Street, and with Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn in the film The Watch.^[32] In 2011, it was announced that Hill was in talks to appear in Quentin Tarantino's film Django Unchained.^[33] Hill almost had to decline a possible role due to his prior commitment to The Watch, lamenting that to act in a Tarantino movie was "the perfect next step" in his career.^[33] Hill later rejoined Django Unchained, which was released in 2012.^[34] He was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2012 along with 175 other individuals.^[35]

2013–present

In 2013, Hill appeared in This is the End as himself and the biographical film The Wolf of Wall Street.^[36][37] Hill was nominated for his second Academy Award for his work in the latter film. In an interview with Howard Stern on January 21, 2014, Hill said he earned US$60,000 for his role in The Wolf of Wall Street because Hill took SAG’s "minimum wage".^[38] Hill told Stern he did not mind getting minimum pay because he "would have done anything in the world" for a role in a Scorsese film.^[39]

He voiced the Green Lantern in the adventure comedy The Lego Movie in February 2014, which blends computer animation and live action.^[40] Hill reprised his role as Morton Schmidt in 22 Jump Street (2014), the sequel to 21 Jump Street.^[41] His next performance was as Michael Finkel in True Story (2015), a mystery thriller, alongside James Franco.^[42] In 2016, he played a surety agent for a production company in the Coen brothers' period comedy Hail, Caesar!.^[43]

Writing

Hill wanted to be a writer since he was young, dreaming of joining the writing teams of The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live and The Larry Sanders Show. At one point, Hill was writing a screenplay with close friend and I Heart Huckabees co-star Jason Schwartzman.^[16] At another, he was writing Pure Imagination, a comedy for Sony about a man who develops an imaginary friend after a traumatic experience. Filming was expected to begin in 2008, but it has been in development since then.^[44] Hill was a co-producer on the movie Brüno, and did some writing for Sacha Baron Cohen, who "taught him how to become a better writer".^[45] Hill co-wrote the treatment for the 2012 film 21 Jump Street with screenwriter Michael Bacall.^[46]

Filmography

See also

• List of awards and nominations received by Jonah Hill

References

1. Robehmed, Natalie. "Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill Among Newcomers To Highest-Paid Actors List". Forbes. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
2. "Jonah Hill". TV Guide. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
3. Sharon CHALKIN, b: Private. Levinsongenealogy.org. Retrieved on 2011-11-15.
4. Social Announcements – Weddings Engagements Births – Article – NYTimes.com. Select.nytimes.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-15.
5. Brevet, Brad. (June 2, 2010) Interview: Jonah Hill Talks Music and Movies Promoting 'Get Him to the Greek'. Rope of Silicon. Retrieved on 2011-11-15.
6. Stein, Danielle. "Jonah Hill". W Magazine. Condé Nast. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
7. Sneider, Jeff (August 7, 2015). "Jonah Hill’s Sister Beanie Feldstein Joins Seth Rogen, Zac Efron in ‘Neighbors 2’". thewrap.com. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
8. Pfefferman, Naomi (January 11, 2012). "Jonah Hill: 'Moneyball's' super-talented, super-nice Jewish boy". Jewish Journal. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
9. James Franco. "Talking With Jonah Hill". Playboy. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
10. Ryan Gilbey. "Jonah Hill: Hollywood's hardest working slacker". the Guardian. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
11. Hermione Hoby. "Jonah Hill: 'Snorting fake cocaine in a Scorsese movie is pretty iconic'". the Guardian. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
12. "Jonah Hill biography: Writer and actor Jonah Hill starred in the teen hit Superbad. In 2011, he received an Oscar nomination for his performance in Moneyball.". Archived from the original on January 8, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
13. "Jonah Hill: I Owe Oscar Nomination to Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow". IMDb. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
14. The Howard Stern Interviews Jonah Hill 06/03/14. YouTube. June 10, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
15. Solomon, Deborah. (August 12, 2007) Jonah Hill – Movies – New York Times. Nytimes.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-15.
16. "One on One with... Jonah Hill", Hobo Trashcan, August 2006. Retrieved on June 29, 2007.
17. Clark and Michael – Episode 8 – "Writing Partners" on YouTube, August 2, 2007
18. Aquino, Tara (July 23, 2015). "11 Super Great Facts About ‘Superbad’". Mental Floss. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
19. Rabin, Nathan (August 15, 2007). "Christopher Mintz-Plasse of Superbad". The A.V. Club]. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
20. Chitwood, Scott (December 17, 2007). "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
21. Coggan, Devan (March 5, 2016). "Jonah Hill hosts SNL: Talk about it here". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
22. Chavez, Danette (March 18, 2016). "Cary Fukunaga to direct Emma Stone and Jonah Hill in dark comedy series". The A.V. Club. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
23. Nicole Sperling (May 6, 2008). "Jonah Hill no longer in talks for 'Transformers 2'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 7, 2008.
24. Michael Fleming (June 11, 2008). "Trio joins Judd Apatow film". Variety. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
25. "The Simpsons TV Interview – Al Jean". IGN. January 29, 2009. Retrieved January 30, 2009.
26. Crecente, Brian (November 4, 2011). "Jonah Hill, Sam Worthington Star in This Live Action Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Ad". Kotaku.
27. "FOX Announces 2011 Fall TV Premiere Dates".
28. "Metacritic reviews: Allen Gregory: Season 1".
29. "Fox Boss Offers Renewal Updates on House, Fringe, Terra Nova and More!".
30. "Few surprises in Golden Globe nominations". Suntimes.com.
31. "Nominees for the 84th Academy Awards | Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences". Oscars.org. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
32. Wloszczyna, Susan (September 23, 2011). "Jonah Hill forms 'Neighborhood Watch' with Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn". USA Today. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
33. Jonah Hill turned down ‘Django Unchained’ |. Reservoirwatchdogs.com (November 9, 2011). Retrieved on 2011-11-15.
34. White, James (June 17, 2012). "Jonah Hill Joins Django Unchained". Retrieved June 17, 2012.
35. "Academy Invites 176 to Membership". The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. June 29, 2012. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
36. "Jonah Hill, Serious Actor, didn't come here to talk about farting". Entertainment Weekly. June 5, 2013. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
37. "Jonah Hill Joins Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese’s THE WOLF OF WALL STREET". Collider.com. August 2, 2012. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
38. Jonah Hill Was Paid $60,000 for ‘Wolf of Wall Street’. January 22, 2014.
39. Ward, Alexandra. "Jonah Hill Made Paltry $60,000 for Doing 'The Wolf of Wall Street'". Newsmax. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
40. Staff, THR (July 20, 2013). "Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Cobie Smulders Added to 'Lego Movie' Voice Cast". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
41. Robey, Tim (June 5, 2014). "22 Jump Street, review: 'same plot, better jokes'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
42. Calhoun, John (April 17, 2015). "The True Story Behind 'True Story'". Biography. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
43. Sims, David (February 10, 2016). "Have the Coen Brothers Made Peace With Hollywood?". The Atlantic. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
44. Carroll, Larry (2007-07-09). "'Superbad' Star Re-Teams With Apatow For 'Imagination'". MTV News. Retrieved on July 11, 2007.
45. . The A.V. Club. Archived October 29, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
46. Coll, Kevin (December 21, 2009). "21 Jump Street Gets Phil Lord and Chris Miller to direct". Fused Film. Archived from the original on February 18, 2012. Retrieved June 13, 2014.

External links

• Jonah Hill at the Internet Movie Database
• Jonah Hill at Box Office Mojo
• Jonah Hill at Rotten Tomatoes
• Jonah Hill on Twitter