Jake Johnson Biography

Jake Johnson (born Mark Jake Johnson Weinberger; May 28, 1978) is an American actor, comedian and director, most commonly known for playing Nick Miller in the Fox comedy series New Girl opposite Zooey Deschanel, for which he has received a Teen Choice Award nomination among others. Johnson also co-starred in the 2009 film Paper Heart and the 2012 film Safety Not Guaranteed, as well as appearing in Get Him to the Greek, 21 Jump Street, and Jurassic World. His first starring role in a feature film was Drinking Buddies, and he also starred in the 2014 comedy Let's Be Cops, alongside fellow New Girl star Damon Wayans, Jr.

Life and career

Johnson was born in Evanston, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, the son of Eve Johnson, an artist who made stained glass windows, and Ken Weinberger, who owned a car dealership. He was named after his maternal uncle, Mark Johnson, who died at the age of 26 in a motorcycle accident in 1977, a year before Jake was born. Jake's father is from an Ashkenazi Jewish family, while his mother's ancestry is English, Irish, and Polish Catholic. His parents divorced when he was two, and he and his older siblings, brother Dan and sister Rachel, were raised by his single mother. Johnson then took his mother's last name during high school. Johnson has stated that since his 20s, his father has resurfaced and now they are close.

He grew up a fan of the Second City improv troupe, which showed off the talents of actors such as John Belushi, Tina Fey and Chris Farley. He graduated from New Trier High School in Winnetka and started his post-secondary education at the University of Iowa. While in Iowa City, he wrote a play, which wound up earning him admission to the Dramatic Writing Department at NYU's prestigious Tisch School of the Arts, followed by the 2002 John Golden Playwriting Prize and the Sloan Fellowship for Screenwriting. The New York off-Broadway group, The Ensemble Studio Theater, produced his play Cousins.

While in New York, Johnson started the sketch comedy troupe The Midwesterners, modeling their material and style after HBO's sketch comedy Mr. Show with Bob and David. After moving to Los Angeles, Johnson supported himself as a waiter and a production assistant, also scoring a series of bit feature and guest TV roles. In 2007, he landed a more regular gig with the TBS mini-show Derek and Simon: The Show, produced by Bob Odenkirk.

In 2009, he appeared in the mockumentary Paper Heart. In 2010, Johnson was cast in a small role in the Russell Brand comedy, Get Him to the Greek. He played Uma Thurman's character's brother in the romantic comedy Ceremony, and as a buddy of Ashton Kutcher's character in No Strings Attached. In 2011, he played Jesus in A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. In 2012, he appeared in the film version of 21 Jump Street, which starred Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. Johnson made an appearance at the 2012 Sundance Festival as one of the leads in Safety Not Guaranteed.

Since 2011, Johnson has been starring as Nick Miller alongside Zooey Deschanel on New Girl. In 2013, he appeared in the music video for "Rouse Yourself", a song by indie-soul band JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound alongside his Safety Not Guaranteed co-star Aubrey Plaza. He is also starring (as a fictional version of himself) in a series of Dodge Dart commercials with Craig Robinson. In 2015, he played park informatician Lowery in Jurassic World.

Drunk History

The web series Drunk History, which led to the 2013 TV series Drunk History, was inspired by a 2007 conversation that Johnson had with series creator Derek Waters. Johnson, while drunk, was trying to describe the story of Otis Redding's death to Waters, and Waters was inspired to build a series around history narrated by drunk people. Johnson later appeared in the first episode of the web series (as Aaron Burr), as well as episode 8 of the TV series' first season (as William B. Travis).

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Redbelt	Guayabera Shirt Man
2009	Paper Heart	Nicholas Jasenovec
2010	Ceremony	Teddy
2010	Get Him to the Greek	Jazz Man
2011	A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas	Jesus Christ
2011	No Strings Attached	Eli
2012	21 Jump Street	Principal Dadier
2012	Safety Not Guaranteed	Jeff Schwensen
2013	Drinking Buddies	Luke
2013	The Pretty One	Basel
2013	Coffee Town	Will's Roommate
2014	The Lego Movie	Barry	Voice
2014	Neighbors	Sebastian Cremmington
2014	Let's Be Cops	Ryan O'Malley
2015	Jurassic World	Lowery Cruthers
2015	Digging for Fire	Tim	Also co-writer and producer
2016	Joshy	Reggie
2016	Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates	Ronnie
2017	The Mummy		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Derek and Simon: The Show	Jake	6 Episodes
2007	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Man on Cell Phone	Episode: "The N Word"
2007	The Unit	Martin	Episode: "MPs"
2009	Lie to Me	Howard Crease	Episode: "Love Always"
2010	FlashForward	Powell	Episode: "Countdown"
2011-present	New Girl	Nick Miller	Main role; Nominated - Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series (2013) Nominated - TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy (2013) Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Best Actor Comedy (2012, 2013) Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy (2013)
2011	Allen Gregory	Joel Zadak	Voice; 6 Episodes
2012	NTSF:SD:SUV::	Jorgen	Episode: "The Real Bicycle Thief"
2013	Ghost ghirls	Eddie Hanson	Episode: "Home Is Where The Haunt Is"
2013-2015	High School USA!	Mr. Structor	Voice; Main cast
2013-2015	Drunk History	Various	2 episodes
2015	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Himself	Episode: "Jake Johnson Wears a Light Blue Button-Up Shirt and Brown Shoes"
2016	Easy

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Lego Jurassic World	Lowery Cruthers	Voice
2015	Lego Dimensions	Lowery Cruthers	Voice