Adam Brody Biography

Adam Jared Brody (born December 15, 1979) is an American actor, writer, musician and producer. He is best known for his role as Seth Cohen on The O.C.. Brody has appeared in the films Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Thank You for Smoking (2006), In the Land of Women (2007), Jennifer's Body (2009), Cop Out (2010), Scream 4 (2011), Lovelace (2013), Life Partners (2014), and Sleeping with Other People (2015).

Early life

Brody was born in San Diego, California to Valerie Jill (ne Siefman), a graphic artist, and Mark Alan Brody, an attorney. He has younger twin brothers, Sean and Matthew (born 1985). His parents, both Jewish, are originally from Detroit, Michigan, and Brody had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony.

Brody attended Wangenheim Middle School and Scripps Ranch High School, receiving "poor grades", and grew up in suburban San Diego, where he spent his time surfing. He has said that he "pretty much lived at the beach". Brody attended community college for one year, dropped out at the age of nineteen, and moved to Hollywood in order to become an actor. He subsequently hired an acting coach and signed with a talent manager.

Acting career

After a year of training and auditioning, Brody landed the role of Barry Williams in the television film Growing Up Brady (2000). He also appeared in the Canadian comedy series The Sausage Factory. In 2001, he played a minor role in American Pie 2. Brody's first major role in a television series came in 2002, when he was cast in a recurring role on the comedy-drama series Gilmore Girls, portraying Dave Rygalski, Lane's bandmate and love interest.

In 2003, he appeared in the feature film Grind, and the music video for "Too Bad About Your Girl" by The Donnas. The same year, Brody was cast in his breakout role as Seth Cohen on the teen drama series The O.C.. Brody is reported to have improvised some of the character's comedic dialogue. The role turned him into a teen idol, with the character having been described by the Los Angeles Times as "TV's sexiest geek" and by Time as having "redefined" the screen persona of "unapologetic" nerdiness. Brody was the first male on the cover of Elle Girl.

In 2005, Brody appeared in a supporting role alongside Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in the film Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and played a Hollywood studio assistant in the film adaptation of Thank You for Smoking (2006). His next film role was in the romantic comedy In the Land of Women (2007), starring Meg Ryan and Kristen Stewart. Brody played a writer who returns to his mother's Michigan hometown in order to take care of his sick grandmother. He did not have to audition for the part, but was almost unable to appear in the film because of scheduling conflicts with the second season of The O.C.; the film's director pushed filming back eight months because he wanted Brody to star. The O.C. ended its run in 2007 after four seasons. Brody had said that he was "not unhappy" with the show's cancellation, and that although he was "fortunate" to be on a successful series, he was also glad to "not be on it for 10 years".

After the end of The O.C. run, Brody turned to a full-time film career. The same year, Brody appeared in supporting roles in the films Smiley Face and The Ten. In 2009, he co-starred with Josh Lucas in Boaz Yakin's drama Death in Love, and in Diablo Cody's horror film Jennifer's Body, co-starring Megan Fox. In 2010, he appeared in Kevin Smith's film Cop Out, which co-starred Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, and then in The Romantics alongside Katie Holmes and Josh Duhamel. In July 2010, it was announced that Brody landed the role of Detective Hoss in Scream 4, released in April 2011. In 2011, Brody voiced Woodie in the MTV animated series Good Vibes. The same year, Brody appeared in The Oranges alongside Leighton Meester and Hugh Laurie.

In January 2012, it was announced that he had joined the cast of Lovelace a biopic about the late 1970s porn star Linda Lovelace, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, and starring Amanda Seyfried. Brody portrayed Harry Reems. He then co-starred with Meester again in Life Partners (2014). In 2015, he appeared in Sleeping with Other People, and began starring as Billy Jones in Direct TV's sitcom Billy and Billie.

Other works

Aside from acting, Brody is credited as a musician and writer, stating that he "writes screenplays and songs during [his] spare time". In 2003, Brody wrote and produced the short film Home Security.

In 2005, Brody, along with Nathaniel Castro, Bret Harrison and Brad Babinski, formed the Los Angeles-based rock band Big Japan, with Brody as lead drummer. Big Japan's first release, Music for Dummies, was digitally released through Nightshift Records on August 23, 2005. The four-piece indie band played gigs at pubs and festivals from 2005 to 2007 such as The Knitting Factory, Bamboozle Left, The Roxy, Spaceland and The Viper Room.

In 2007, he, along with Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo, co-wrote a comic book miniseries for DC's Wildstorm Comics titled Red Menace. The limited series had six issues and was collected into a trade paperback. Since 2010, Brody has played the drums in the project band The Shortcoats. They released their first EP, This Time Last Year, on October 4, 2011. Their song, "Morning, Shipwreck", which Brody co-wrote, is featured in the sitcom Ben and Kate and in the 2015 film The Meddler.

Personal life

Brody is a secular Jew and is non-religious. He has described himself as being a "faux intellectual" and "beach mood" person.

In March 2010, Brody met actress Leighton Meester while filming The Oranges in Westchester, New York. They became engaged in November 2013, and married in a private ceremony on February 15, 2014. They welcomed their first child, a daughter named Arlo Day Brody, on August 4, 2015 in Whittier, California.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Neverland	Jack
	The Silencing	Karl
	Roadside Assistance	Rusty
	American Pie 2	High School Guy	Unrated version
	According to Spencer	Tommy
2002	The Ring	Male Teen #1
2003	Home Security	Greg	Short film
	Grind	Dustin Knight
	Missing Brendan	Patrick Calden
2005	Mr. & Mrs. Smith	Benjamin Danz
2006	Thank You for Smoking	Jack Bein
2007	In the Land of Women	Carter Webb
	The Ten	Stephen Montgomery
	Smiley Face	Steve the Dealer
2008	Death in Love	Talent Agent
2009	Jennifer's Body	Nikolai Wolf
2010	Cop Out	Barry Mangold
	The Romantics	Jake
2011	Scream 4	Deputy Ross Hoss
	The Oranges	Toby Walling
	Damsels in Distress	Charlie Walker
2012	Seeking a Friend for the End of the World	Owen
	Revenge for Jolly!	Danny Fidazzo
2013	Some Girl(s)	The Man
	Welcome to the Jungle	Chris
	Lovelace	Harry Reems
	Baggage Claim	Sam
2014	Growing Up And Other Lies	Rocks
	Think Like a Man Too	Isaac
	Life Partners	Tim
2015	Sleeping with Other People	Sam
2016	Yoga Hosers	Ichabod
2017	CHiPs	Clay Allen
	The Wanting	Matt Kane	Completed

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	The Amanda Show	Greg Brady	Episode: "When Brady's Attack"
2000	Growing Up Brady	Barry Williams	Television film
	City Guys	Customer #1	Episode: "Makin' Up is Hard to Do"
	Undressed	Lucas	3 episodes
	Judging Amy	Barry Gilmore	Episode: "Romeo and Juliet Must Die - Well, Maybe Just Juliet"
	Go Fish	Billy	Episode: "Go Student Council"
	Family Law	Noel Johnson	Episode: "My Brother's Keeper"
2000-2001	Once and Again	Coop	3 episodes
2000-2002	The Sausage Factory	Zack Altman	13 episodes
2001-2004	Grounded for Life	Brian	2 episodes
2002	Smallville	Justin Gaines	Episode: "Crush"
2002-2003	Gilmore Girls	Dave Rygalski	9 episodes
2003-2007	The O.C.	Seth Cohen	92 episodes
2004	MADtv	Seth Cohen	Episode 9.22
2006	The Loop	Keith MacDonald	Episode: "The Rusty Trombone"
2011	Good Vibes	Woodie Stone	Voice role; 12 episodes
2013	Kroll Show	Joel Faizon	Episode: "Ice Dating"
	House of Lies	Nate Hyatt	3 episodes
	The League	Ted Rappaport	4 episodes
	Burning Love	Max	10 episodes
2014	New Girl	Berkley	Episode: "Exes"
2015	Billy and Billie	Billy Jones	11 episodes
2016-present	StartUp	Nick Talman	10 episodes

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2004	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Actor: Drama	The O.C
		Choice TV: Breakout Actor
2005		Choice TV: Chemistry
		Choice TV Actor: Drama
2006		Choice TV Actor: Drama
2010		Choice Movie Actor: Horror/Thriller	Jennifer's Body