Ike Barinholtz Biography

Isaac "Ike" Barinholtz (born February 18, 1977) is an American actor, comedian, voice actor and screenwriter. He was a cast member on MADtv from 2002 to 2007, Eastbound & Down (2012) and currently has a regular role on The Mindy Project. In his film work, he is best known for his acting roles in Neighbors (2014) and its sequel, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016), Sisters (2015), and Suicide Squad (2016), as well for as co-writing the screenplay for the 2016 comedy film Central Intelligence.

Early life and education

Barinholtz was born in the Rogers Park area of Chicago, Illinois, and was raised in its Lake View neighborhood, the son of Peggy and Alan Barinholtz, an attorney. Barinholtz has described his parents as "liberal people with great senses of humor", and has said that he was raised in a "very funny home". Barinholtz is Jewish, and attended Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, before attending The Latin School of Chicago for high school. He had planned on becoming a politician, but decided to move to Los Angeles, California, to be an actor instead. He worked at a telemarketing company and as a busboy before starting a career in comedy.

Barinholtz also attended Boston University and after dropping out, he worked for the Chicago Transit Authority before starting his comedy career. In a 2013 interview, he said he dropped out of school because he hated it and was doing poorly.

In a 2012 phone interview, Barinholtz said he was inspired to pursue a career in comedy after attending a comedy show at The Vic Theatre and seeing several other comedians. Afterwards, he started taking comedy classes at The Second City, ImprovOlympic and Annoyance Theatre, and was not successful at first, but chose to stick with it. His younger brother Jon Barinholtz is also an actor and comedian.

Career

Barinholtz spent two years in Amsterdam with the famed comedy troupe Boom Chicago, along with Jordan Peele, Josh Meyers and Nicole Parker. Barinholtz hosted the 'Worst of Boom Night' during a 10-year anniversary of the improv troupe Boom Chicago, where they performed their worst material from previous shows.

He has appeared in the films The Adventures of Big Handsome Guy and His Little Friend (2005), Love, Fear and Rabbits (2005) and Down (2001). Barinholtz currently lives in Los Angeles. Barinholtz is a founding member of The Lindbergh Babies, an improv group directed by Del Close, who worked with John Belushi, Bill Murray, Mike Myers and Chris Farley.

In 2012, Barinholtz joined the cast of the third season of the HBO series Eastbound & Down, playing the role of Ivan Dochenko, Kenny Powers' Russian rival.

He starred alongside Seth Rogen in the 2014 comedy Neighbors, as well as its 2016 sequel. Also in 2016, Barinholtz played prison guard Griggs in the DC Comics film Suicide Squad.

Barinholtz currently appears with a recurring role as nurse Morgan Tookers on the Hulu comedy series The Mindy Project. He is also a writer and story editor on the series.

MADtv

Barinholtz officially joined the cast of MADtv in 2002 as a feature performer for the eighth season. He was later promoted to a repertory performer status the following season. Barinholtz would often pair up with fellow cast member Josh Meyers in various sketches for the eighth and ninth seasons similar to the Mike Myers/Dana Carvey and Jimmy Fallon/Horatio Sanz duos on Saturday Night Live. Barinholtz also paired up with fellow cast member Bobby Lee in some of his sketches in the later seasons. Some of his famous characters included Abercrombie & Fitch model Dutch and Principal Lankenstein from the Coach Hines sketches.

Barinholtz performs celebrity impressions, including Dane Cook, Mark Wahlberg, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Federline, Howie Long, Nick Nolte, Fidel Castro, Matt Damon, Felicity Huffman, Alex Trebek, Pat Sajak, Andy Dick, Nick Lachey, Ashton Kutcher, Howard Dean, Bo Bice, and Ralph Nader.

In 2007, he decided not to renew his contract for the 13th season of MADtv. His contract, like most other MADtv cast members, was for five seasons which was up for renewal at the conclusion of the show's 12th season. Barinholtz has commented that he started getting "restless" and did not see eye to eye with some of the MADtv bosses about how decisions were being made.

In 2009, he performed at the Chicago Improv Festival alongside former MADtv cast member Jordan Peele. In 2012, Barinholtz performed at another Chicago Improv Festival event with his brother, Jon.

He has frequently worked with comedian Dave Stassen, with whom he also went to high school. They co-wrote a SPIKE pilot in which Barinholtz also starred, Mega Winner, and the 2016 film Central Intelligence.

Characters

Character	Sketch	Notes
Adam Bice	QVC: Quacker Factory
Eli	The B.S.
Astroman
Duncan Kruskal	The Silver Fox
Dutch	Abercrombie & Fitch
Jeffrey "Jeff" DeShazer	Coach Hines
oops	Knobs
Mitchel "Mitch" Ruffin
Principal Lankenstein	Coach Hines	He is the principal of St. Francis High and Coach Hines' nemesis.
Roy Schenk	Feuding Parents
Steven "Steve" Wellington

The Mindy Project

In 2012, Barinholtz began working as a writer on The Mindy Project and was cast as Nurse Morgan Tookers.

Personal life

Barinholtz is married to Erica Hanson, with whom he has two daughters.

The Mindy Projectstar wasshooting his upcoming movie,The Pact, when he suffered a terrifying accident during a fall stunt.The accident left him with two fractured cervical vertebrae in his neck.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2018	The Pact
2017	Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House	Angelo Lano
	Bright	Gary Harmeyer
	Snatched	Jeffrey Middleton
2016	Storks	Miscellaneous Stork (voice)
	Suicide Squad	Griggs
	Central Intelligence		Writer
	Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising	Jimmy Blevins
	The Angry Birds Movie	Tiny (voice)
2015	Sisters	James
2014	Neighbors	Jimmy Blevins
2013	The Sidekick	Lightning Mike	Short film
	Inventing Adam	Telly
2010	Vampires Suck	Bobby White	Uncredited
	How to Make Love to a Woman	David
2009	Shrink	Steve	Uncredited
2008	Disaster Movie	Wolf Javier Bardem look-alike Police Officer Hellboy Batman Beowulf Prince Caspian
	Meet the Spartans	Dane Cook look-alike Bond Villain Prophet
	Lock and Roll Forever	Lomax
2007	Bunny Whipped	Joe
	Twisted Fortune	Dave Armstrong
2006	The Adventures of Big Handsome Guy and His Little Friend	Bar Jerk	Short film
2001	Down	Assistant Milligan

Television

Year	Title	Credit	Role	Notes
2016	Animals.		Alan (voice)	Pigeons. (#1.2)
2014	Married		Bruce	The Old Date (#1.8)
	Garfunkel and Oates		First Door on the Right Director	Hair Swap (#1.5)
	Kroll Show		Zach Sword	Oh Armond (#2.3)
	@midnight		Himself	January 8 episode
2013-2015	The Awesomes		Muscleman	Voice role
2013	The Soup		Himself	October 23 episode
	The Pete Holmes Show			Ike Barinholtz (#1.5)
	High School USA!		Cyber Bully	Voice role; Bullies (#1.1)
	Drunk History		August Spies	Chicago (#1.2)
2012-present	The Mindy Project	Writer Executive story editor	Morgan Tookers
2012	NTSF:SD:SUV		Maitre'D	Sabbath-tage (#2.3)
	Eastbound & Down		Ivan Dochenko	6 episodes
	Megawinner	Writer Executive Producer	Cliff Planker	TV Movie
2011	Childrens Hospital		Peter Principato	Newsreaders (#3.14)
2010-2012	The League		Frank Gibiatti	3 episodes
2010	Weeds		Daryl	Fran Tarkenton (#6.12)
2008-2009	Rita Rocks		Fly	6 episodes
2008	Family Guy		Dane Cook	Voice role; I Dream of Jesus (#7.2)
2005	E! Hollywood Hold'em		Himself	Laura Prepon (#1.1)
2002-2007, 2016	MADtv	Cast Member	Various characters	116 episodes

Video Games

Year	Title	Role
2016	Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare	A.J.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2013	Writers Guild of America Award	New Series Shared with Jeremy Bronson, Linwood Boomer, Adam Countee, Harper Dill, Mindy Kaling, Chris McKenna, B.J. Novak, David Stassen, and Matt Warburton	The Mindy Project