Seth Rogen facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Seth Rogen
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Rogen in 2019
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Seth Aaron Rogen
April 15, 1982 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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| Years active | 1999–present |
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Works
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Lauren Miller
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| Awards | Full list |
Seth Aaron Rogen (/ˈroʊɡən/; born April 15, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian and filmmaker. Originally a stand-up comedian in Vancouver, he moved to Los Angeles for a part in Judd Apatow's series Freaks and Geeks in 1999, and got a part on Apatow's sitcom Undeclared in 2001, which also hired him as a writer. Rogen landed a job as a staff writer on the final season of Da Ali G Show (2004), for which the writing team was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. Apatow subsequently guided him toward a film career.
His first movie appearance was a minor role in Donnie Darko (2001), and he had a supporting part in Apatow's directorial debut, The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), which he co-produced. He had leading roles in Apatow's comedies Knocked Up (2007) and Funny People (2009). Rogen and his writing partner, Evan Goldberg, co-wrote the films Superbad (2007), Pineapple Express (2008), The Green Hornet (2011) and This Is the End (2013), and directed This Is the End and The Interview (2014), all of which starred Rogen. ..... He has played dramatic roles in 50/50 (2011), Take This Waltz (2011), Steve Jobs (2015) and The Fabelmans (2022). He also starred in the FX on Hulu miniseries Pam & Tommy (2022) for which he received Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor nominations.
Rogen has co-developed the AMC television series Preacher (2016–2019), on which he also served as writer, executive producer and director. He has also executive produced the Amazon Prime Video superhero series The Boys from 2019, and Invincible from 2021. Rogen is also known for his voice roles in the animated films Shrek the Third (2007), Horton Hears a Who! (2008), the Kung Fu Panda series, The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008), Monsters vs. Aliens (2009), Sausage Party (2016), The Lion King (2019), and The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023).
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Early life
Seth Aaron Rogen was born on April 15, 1982, in Vancouver, British Columbia, to a Jewish family of Ukrainian and Russian origin. His mother, Sandy Belogus, is a social worker, and his American father, Mark Rogen, worked for non-profit organizations and as an assistant director of the Workmen's Circle Jewish fraternal organization. Of his dual citizenship, Rogen has stated, "I definitely associate with being Canadian much more than being American" because he grew up in Canada. He has described his parents, who met on kibbutz Beit Alfa in Israel, as "radical Jewish socialists." Rogen has an older sister named Danya. He attended Vancouver Talmud Torah Elementary School and Point Grey Secondary School, incorporating many of his classmates into his writing, and took up kyokushin karate for 10 years. He was also known for the stand-up comedy he performed at Camp Miriam, a Habonim Dror camp.
As a child, Rogen did not want to pursue any career other than comedy, stating, "As soon as I realized you could be funny as a job, that was the job I wanted." He got his start in show business at age 12 after enrolling in a comedy workshop taught by Mark Pooley. His early comedy routines involved jokes about his bar mitzvah, his grandparents and his camp counsellors. As a teenager, he would perform stand-up comedy routines at places like bar mitzvahs and small parties, later shifting to bars. A mohel paid him to write jokes. At the age of 13, he co-wrote a rough draft of Superbad with childhood friend Evan Goldberg, whom he had met at bar mitzvah classes. Based on their teenage experiences, Rogen and Goldberg spent the rest of their time in high school polishing the script. They initially worried that American Pie (1999) had beaten them to the idea for the movie, but they decided that the film "'managed to totally avoid all honest interaction between characters,' which is what we're going for."
His mother was supportive of his comic endeavours and would often drive him to stand-up gigs at the comedy club Yuk Yuk's. With his deadpan humour, he placed second in the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest at 16 years old. Also when Rogen was 16, his father lost his job and his mother quit hers, forcing them to put their house up for sale and relocate to a significantly smaller apartment. Around this time, he landed a role on Judd Apatow's television show Freaks and Geeks after attending a local casting call. Rogen dropped out of high school, began working for Apatow and relocated with his family to Los Angeles. Rogen paid the bills and had become the main wage earner at just 16.
Career
1999–2006: Early work and friendship with Judd Apatow
Rogen's acting debut was as Ken Miller, a cynical, acerbic "freak" in Apatow's Freaks and Geeks, an eventual cult hit series first released in 1999. Revolving around a group of teenagers' lives, Freaks and Geeks first aired in 1999. Although well reviewed, the show was NBC's lowest-viewed program and was cancelled after one season due to poor ratings. Impressed with Rogen's improvisational skills, Apatow then chose him as the lead in another of his shows, Undeclared. Rogen was originally set to play a fairly popular but nerdy college freshman, but the network did not think he was leading man material. Apatow opted not to go along with the show. Rogen also served as a staff writer to the short-lived production.
Following the show's cancellation in 2002, Rogen did not get many auditions, which was not upsetting to him, as he always thought he would achieve better success as a writer. He would soon be a part of Apatow's "frat pack," a close-knit group that includes Steve Carell and Paul Rudd. Of the awkwardness of a grown man spending so much time with a teenaged Rogen, Apatow said, "I'm such a comedy fan that, even though he's 16, I know I'm hanging out with one of the guys who's going to be one of the great comics." Around this time, Apatow would come up with odd requests for Rogen and Goldberg, such as turn an idea of his into a movie in 10 days and come up with 100 one-page ideas for films. Regarding Apatow's professional effect on Rogen, the actor said in 2009, "Obviously, I can't stress how important Judd's been to my career."
Rogen had roles in Donnie Darko (2001) and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004). A big career point for him was becoming a staff writer for Sacha Baron Cohen's last season of Da Ali G Show in 2004. Along with the show's other writers, Rogen received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. He became familiar to audiences as one of the main character's co-workers in Apatow's well-reviewed buddy comedy directorial debut feature The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005). Rogen also co-produced it and improvised all his dialogue. "[Rogen] hadn't done any screen work that indicated he could carry as memorable and convincing a performance as he does with the character Cal," MTV's John Constantine wrote. The Boston Globe reviewer Wesley Morris wrote that Rogen, along with co-stars Rudd and Romany Malco, were each hilarious in their own right and Orlando Sentinel's Roger Moore believed that Rogen had his moments in the film whereas Moira Macdonald of The Seattle Times said the actor was "droopily deadpan". He followed this with a small role in You, Me and Dupree (2006), a critically panned comedy featuring Matt Dillon, Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson.
2007–2009: Breakthrough as a leading man
His breakthrough came when Universal Studios green-lit him for the lead in yet another Apatow production: Knocked Up (2007). Made on a $30 million budget and released on June 1, Knocked Up was a critical and commercial hit, garnering an approval rating of 90% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and grossing $219 million. Rogen also received favourable reviews. Later that year, he played a supporting part as an irresponsible police officer in Superbad, which he had written with his writing partner, Evan Goldberg, and was co-produced by Apatow. Michael Cera and Jonah Hill originate the main roles, two teenage best friends whose party plans go wrong, based on them. The film and its writing was praised, with critics finding it to be very authentic. It topped the U.S. box office for two weeks in a row. He made a vocal cameo appearance in the animated film Shrek the Third, also released in 2007. Rogen hosted Saturday Night Live in October 2007.
Rogen's projects in 2008 included Jimmy Hayward's Horton Hears a Who!, an animated film based on the Dr. Seuss book, in which Rogen voiced Morton the Mouse, and the fantasy film The Spiderwick Chronicles, in which he voiced a hobgoblin. Rogen additionally co-wrote Drillbit Taylor, also produced by Apatow and starring Owen Wilson as the homeless titular character. He based the screenplay on a 70-page scriptment done by John Hughes. The movie was panned by critics who thought its plot – a grown man becoming three kids' bodyguard and beating up their bullies – had no focus and was drawn out. "If Superbad were remade as a gimmicky Nickelodeon movie, it would probably look something like Drillbit Taylor," Josh Bell wrote in the Las Vegas Weekly. He again lent his voice to another animated movie, this time Kung Fu Panda, with Jack Black and Angelina Jolie. It did exceptionally well in theatres, making more than $630 million. Rogen made a cameo appearance in the comedy Step Brothers, released in July. Rogen, Goldberg and Apatow were behind the action comedy Pineapple Express directed by David Gordon Green at Columbia Pictures. Apatow produced it while Rogen and Goldberg wrote the script. Pineapple Express was released to theatres in August and made $101 million in ticket sales against its $27 million production budget. Movie critics lauded it, appreciating their performances and its humor.
In April 2008, Empire reported Rogen and Goldberg would write an episode for the animated television series The Simpsons. Along with Reese Witherspoon, he voiced a character in the animated science fiction Monsters vs. Aliens (2009), which did well commercially, with a total of $381.5 million. He then starred in the Jody Hill–directed mall cop comedy Observe and Report, in which he portrayed bipolar mall security guard Ronnie Barnhart. The film opened in theatres on April 10. Later in 2009, Rogen starred in Apatow's third directorial feature, Funny People, with Adam Sandler. Rogen played a young, inexperienced comic while Sandler played a mentor of sorts to his character; the film had more dramatic elements in it than Apatow's previous efforts. Funny People was a commercial failure, coming up short of earning back its $75 million budget. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with a consensus that it had "considerable emotional depth." Rogen hosted Saturday Night Live again in 2009, where the music video for the Lonely Island song "Like a Boss," in which he starred, premiered.
2015–present: Career expansion
Rogen portrayed Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak in the Danny Boyle–directed Steve Jobs biopic (2015), based on a screenplay by Aaron Sorkin. His performance in the film was widely praised, and he was commended by Wozniak himself for doing an "excellent job." In November 2015, Rogen starred alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie in the Christmas-themed comedy The Night Before as three best friends who annually reunite to celebrate Christmas Eve. In 2016, he reprised his voice role as Master Mantis in Kung Fu Panda 3 and as Mac Radner in the Neighbors sequel Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. Along with Goldberg and Sam Catlin, Rogen developed the television series Preacher for Sony Pictures Television, which premiered on AMC in May 2016. The show is based on the comic book series of the same name that was created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon and follows a small-town preacher named Jesse Custer (played by Dominic Cooper) who possesses a superpower that allows him to command others to do as he says. His last release of 2016 was the animated comedy Sausage Party, which, in addition to voicing the lead character Frank – a sausage that tries to escape his fate in a supermarket – he co-wrote and produced. Sausage Party became the most commercially successful R-rated animated film of all time, overtaking South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999). Associated Press critic Lindsey Bahr wrote of the film: "There is no one out there making comedies quite like Rogen and Goldberg. They are putting their definitive stamp on the modern American comedy one decency-smashing double entendre at a time."
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Along with Evan Goldberg, Rogen directed and executive produced the science fiction comedy series Future Man, starring Josh Hutcherson, which premiered on the streaming service Hulu in November 2017. The same year, Rogen and Goldberg also co-directed a short commercial film for Walmart, titled Bananas Town, and Rogen portrayed Sandy Schklair, the script supervisor for The Room director and star Tommy Wiseau (played by James Franco), in the Franco-directed film The Disaster Artist, based on the book of the same name, which chronicles the making of the 2003 film The Room. Rogen, as the founder of Hilarity for Charity, an organization that raises funds for Alzheimer's research and support, hosts an annual fundraising comedy event named after the organization. The sixth event was broadcast through the streaming service Netflix in April 2018. In July 2018, it was announced that Rogen was to voice public service announcements in his native Vancouver's TransLink transit system and Toronto's Toronto Transit Commission. Rogen co-starred alongside Kristen Bell and Kelsey Grammer as the love interest of Bell's character in the 2018 comedy-drama Like Father, directed by Rogen's wife, Lauren Miller. In 2019, Rogen starred opposite Charlize Theron in the romantic comedy Long Shot, as an unemployed journalist who re-connects with his childhood love interest and babysitter (Theron), who has become a major political figure.
Rogen co-starred in the 2019 remake of the animated musical film The Lion King (1994), voicing the warthog Pumbaa, who rescues the film's protagonist Simba with his friend Timon, voiced by Donald Glover and Billy Eichner, respectively. He sang three songs in the film, which were included on the soundtrack release. Rogen said that, "[a]s an actor, I don't think I'm right for every role — there are a lot of roles I don't think I'm right for even in movies I'm making — but Pumbaa was one I knew I could do well." It had a middling reception from critics, and became one of the highest-grossing films of all time with earnings of more than $1.663 billion. Rogen and Eichner received praise for their chemistry. In 2019, Rogen also produced the comedy Good Boys, starring Jacob Tremblay for Universal Pictures, and the television shows The Boys and Black Monday, directing the pilot for the latter show with Goldberg. In 2021, he voiced Allen the Alien in the animated series Invincible, in which he also serves as producer. Rogen filmed scenes for the James Franco film Zeroville in 2014, which was not released until 2019.
Rogen has a guest chapter giving advice in Tim Ferriss' self-help book Tools of Titans.
In 2020, it was announced that Rogen would serve as a producer for the animated film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. In addition to producing, he co-wrote it, and provided the voice of Bebop.
Rogen's first book, Yearbook, was published in May 2021. Yearbook is a memoir that features a collection of essays spanning from Rogen's adolescence to his experiences in Hollywood. In September 2021, Nintendo announced in a Nintendo Direct presentation that Rogen would be voicing Donkey Kong in the 2023 animated film The Super Mario Bros. Movie, with a spin-off film focused around the character planned, as well.
In 2023 it was announced that Rogen will serve as an executive producer, and appear as a guest judge, in the upcoming Canadian reality competition series The Great Canadian Pottery Throw Down. Also in 2023, Rogen was cast alongside Aziz Ansari and Keanu Reeves in Ansari's film directorial debut, Good Fortune. The project began filming in January 2024, with Keke Palmer posting on her Instagram page that she had joined Rogen as part of the cast that same month.
Political views and activism
Politically, Rogen describes himself as "left wing."
Rogen has been active in raising awareness of Alzheimer's disease. The disease runs in his wife's family and has affected his mother-in-law for several years. "I think until you see it firsthand, it's kind of hard to conceive of how brutal it is," Rogen said to CNN. "Until I saw it, you just don't get kind of how heartbreaking it can be." During the interview, he talked about how he tries to be emotionally supportive and around as much as he can for Miller's mother. Both he and Miller spoke to Larry King for A Larry King Special, Unthinkable: The Alzheimer's Epidemic, which aired in April 2011. Rogen testified about the disease and his charity before the United States Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services on February 26, 2014. Rogen started the Hilarity for Charity movement to inspire change and raise awareness of Alzheimer's disease among the Millennial Generation. Rogen and his wife also initiated the Alzheimer's and Dementia Care Grant Program with Home Instead Senior Care to provide free at-home care to senior citizens. On February 25, 2016, Rogen and Miller were honoured with the unite2gether accolade from unite4:humanity for their work promoting awareness and raising money for Alzheimer's research through Hilarity for Charity.
Rogen appeared in a Bud Light commercial celebrating LGBT Pride Month and the Supreme Court of the United States ruling that granted same-sex couples the right to marry. Rogen is a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity (Lambda Delta chapter) at the University of Vermont. He was initiated in April 2017 after his fourth visit to the campus for his Hilarity for Charity movement. .....
In June 2018, Rogen was invited by Mitt Romney to speak at a seminar for awareness of Alzheimer's disease hosted by Romney in Park City, Utah. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, was in attendance, asking Rogen for a photo after Ryan's children engaged Rogen in conversation. Rogen refused, stating in an interview with Stephen Colbert, "I look over and his kids are standing right there expectantly, clearly fans of mine, and I said, 'No way, man!'" and telling Ryan, "Furthermore, I hate what you're doing to the country at this moment, and I'm counting the days until you no longer have one iota of the power that you currently have."
On July 3, 2018, Rogen criticized Twitter and its CEO Jack Dorsey, claiming he had a "bizarre need to verify white supremacists." Variety reported that he was "directly in touch" with Dorsey over the issue. Several media outlets, including Fortune, speculated that Rogen was referring to alt-right figure Jason Kessler, and the Proud Boys in particular.
Rogen is a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Views on Israel
During his July 2020 promotional tour for his comedy, An American Pickle, Rogen said he was "fed a huge amount of lies about Israel" growing up, commenting: "They never tell you that – 'Oh, by the way, there were people there.' .....
Rogen has said he believes antisemitism has remained pervasive and prevalent, but also spoke to the importance of a strong Jewish diaspora: "You don't keep something you're trying to preserve all in one place." Rogen later expanded on his comments, stating in an interview: "I think that it's a tricky conversation to have in jest. And that's something that perhaps I now look at and say, 'Oh, now that we joked about that, perhaps we could clarify some things so people don't run around thinking that I think Israel shouldn't exist anymore.' And I'm sensitive to Jewish people being hurt, as a Jewish person. And I'm sensitive to Jewish people thinking I'm not a proud Jewish person, which I am. Truthfully, I think my pride in being Jewish and how deeply I identify as a Jewish person perhaps made me feel like I was able to say things without as much context as perhaps I should give them – you know what I'm saying? And I am sensitive to Jews thinking that I don't think Israel should not exist [sic], and that there are a lot of Jewish people who are alive who wouldn't be without Israel. And my parents met in Israel; I've been to Israel several times."
Personal life
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Rogen began dating writer and actress Lauren Miller in 2004. They met while he was working on Da Ali G Show. They became engaged on September 29, 2010 and married on October 2, 2011 in Sonoma County, California. Miller has had minor onscreen roles in a few of Rogen's films. They have stated they do not plan to have children.
..... After attending pottery classes with his wife in 2017, he began making ceramics. He cites artist Kenneth Price as an inspiration.
In January 2021, Rogen revealed on Twitter that he has mild Tourette syndrome, which runs in his family.
Filmography and awards
See also
In Spanish: Seth Rogen para niños
