Jason Biggs Biography

Jason Matthew Biggs (born May 12, 1978) is an American actor and comedian best known for his roles as Jim Levenstein in the American Pie comedy film series, and Larry Bloom in the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black. He also starred in Boys and Girls, Loser, Saving Silverman, Anything Else, Jersey Girl, Eight Below, Over Her Dead Body, and My Best Friend's Girl. Biggs initially gained recognition from his role in the soap opera As the World Turns, for which he was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series in 1995.

Early life

Biggs was born in the Pompton Plains section of Pequannock Township, New Jersey. His mother, Angela (ne Zocco), is a nurse, and his father, Gary Louis Biggs, is a shipping company manager. Biggs' father is of English and Italian descent and Biggs' mother is of Sicilian descent. His last name is derived from his English ancestry. He was raised Roman Catholic.

He grew up in Hasbrouck Heights and attended Hasbrouck Heights High School, where he achieved success in tennis. Biggs originally attended New York University before attending Montclair State University, eventually dropping out.

Career

Biggs began acting at the age of five. In 1991, he made his television debut in the short lived FOX series Drexell's Class. In 1988, he received his Screen Actors Guild card for appearing in a TV commercial for Pathmark. He later recalled in a 2015 interview in TV Guide, "I remember I had to eat a doughnut in one of the shots. Over and over again. Awesome."

When Biggs was 12, he starred in a one-off HBO special, The Fotis Sevastakis Story, but due to licensing arguments, it was never aired. That same year, Biggs debuted on Broadway in Conversations with My Father with Judd Hirsch. He then starred in the daytime soap opera, As the World Turns, for which he was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Best Younger Actor.

Biggs attended New York University briefly from 1996-1997, but soon afterwards, he returned to pursue acting. And so he would be seen again in another short lived television series, 1997's Camp Stories. He then starred in American Pie, which went on to become an international hit that has spawned three sequels (also starring Biggs) and four spinoffs (that did not star Biggs). After that, Biggs accepted starring roles in movies such as Loser in 2000, and others. In 2001, Biggs starred in the comedy Saving Silverman. He appeared in the 2002 Broadway production of The Graduate as Benjamin Braddock alongside Kathleen Turner and Alicia Silverstone. In 2003, Biggs appeared as Jerry Falk in the Woody Allen romantic comedy Anything Else. In the 2004-2005 season Biggs portrayed an Orthodox Jew in Daniel Goldfarb's comedy, Modern Orthodox, staged at Dodger Stages theater in New York City. In 2006, Biggs was seen in the MTV reality show Blowin' Up with Jamie Kennedy and Stu Stone which led to his participation in a hip-hop recording with Bay Area rapper E-40. Biggs returned to the stage in the fall of 2008 in Howard Korder's Boys' Life at New York City's Second Stage Theatre.

Biggs has appeared in several other films, including Eight Below and Over Her Dead Body. In 2010, Biggs made his literary debut by contributing "Scratch-and-Sniff," a poem about growing up in New Jersey, to the anthology What's Your Exit? A Literary Detour through New Jersey (Word Riot Press, 2010), alongside writers such as Joyce Carol Oates, Tom Perrotta, Robert Pinsky, Gerald Stern, and J. Robert Lennon. In 2012, he contributed to the anthology, Oy! Only Six? Why Not More: Six-Word Memoirs on Jewish Life. His contribution, "This is a Roman nose, OK?", was both ironic and prescient: Biggs is not Jewish and the editor of the anthology is Larry Smith, creator of Six-Word Memoirs, who a year later would be the basis for Bigg's Orange Is the New Black character Larry Bloom. He departed the series in February 2015 after two seasons.

Biggs reprised his role as Jim Levenstein in American Reunion, which was released on April 6, 2012. In the summer of 2012, Biggs took a job voicing Leonardo on Nickelodeon in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He left the series during its second season and was temporarily replaced by Dominic Catrambone. Seth Green permanently took over the role from Biggs beginning in season 3. Biggs also plays the cowbell in the supergroup Yukon Kornelius.

In was announced in September 2014 that Biggs would star on Broadway in The Heidi Chronicles. The play opened on March 19.

In December 2014, The Hollywood Reporter announced Biggs was cast to star in the comedy Amateur Night. Biggs plays a well-meaning expectant father who unwittingly accepts a job chauffeuring prostitutes (Janet Montgomery, Ashley Tisdale) around Los Angeles. Jenny Mollen, who is Biggs' wife in real life, appears as his wife in the film.

Personal life

Biggs is sometimes cast as an explicitly or implicitly Jewish character, as he was in American Pie, Saving Silverman, Anything Else, and Orange is the New Black despite not being Jewish himself.

In January 2008, he became engaged to his My Best Friend's Girl co-star, actress Jenny Mollen; they married on April 23, 2008. They have a son, Sid, who was born on February 15, 2014. Their second son, Lazlo Biggs, was born on October 2, 2017.

Biggs made headlines after writing offensive jokes about Ann Romney and Janna Ryan on his Twitter account during the 2012 Republican National Convention. In March 2014, Biggs caused controversy when joking about the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Four months later, Biggs again generated controversy when he joked about Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. He also drew criticism in May 2014 when he mocked the death of The Bachelorette contestant Eric Hill.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel	Boy
	The Boy Who Cried Bitch	Robert
1997	Camp Stories	Abby
1999	American Pie	Jim Levenstein	Young Hollywood Awards for Best Ensemble Cast Nominated - Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favourite Actor - Best Newcomer Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Chemistry
2000	Boys and Girls	Hunter/Steve
	Loser	Paul Tannek	Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Wipeout
2001	Saving Silverman	Darren Silverman
	American Pie 2	Jim Levenstein	MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared w/ Seann William Scott) Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Line Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Comedy
	Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back	Himself	Cameo
	Prozac Nation	Rafe
2003	American Wedding	Jim Levenstein	Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Hissy Fit Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Liplock (shared w/ Alyson Hannigan)
	Anything Else	Jerry Falk
2004	Jersey Girl	Arthur Brickman
2005	Guy X	Corporal Rudy Spruance	Taormina Film Fest Award for Best Actor
2006	Farce of the Penguins	Insecure Penguin	Voice
	Eight Below	Charlie Cooper
	Wedding Daze	Anderson
2007	The Glitch	Alan	Short film
2008	Over Her Dead Body	Dan Sianidis
	My Best Friend's Girl	Dustin
	Lower Learning	Tom Willoman
2009	Kidnapping Caitlynn	Max	Short film
2010	The Third Rule	Don
2011	Life Happens	Sergei
2011	Grassroots	Phil Campbell
2012	American Reunion	Jim Levenstein	Executive Producer; Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Comedy
2016	Amateur Night	Guy Carter
2017	Who We Are Now	Vince
2018	Dear Dictator	Mr. Spines
2019	Jay and Silent Bob Reboot	Himself	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991-92	Drexell's Class	Willie Trancas	Series regular; 14 episodes
1994-95	As the World Turns	Pete Wendall	Nominated - Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series (1995) Nominated - Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Male Newcomer (1995)
1997	Total Security	Robbie Rosenfeld	7 episodes
2002	Off Centre	Rick Steve	Episode: "The Good, the Bad and the Lazy"
2004	Frasier	Dr. Hauck	Episode: "Goodnight, Seattle: Part 2"
2004	Sesame Street	Himself	Episode: 4078
2005	Will & Grace	Baby Glenn	Episode: "The Hole Truth"
2006	Blowin' Up	Himself	Episode: "The Break-Up"
2007	I'm in Hell	Nick	TV movie, also producer
2009	Happiness Isn't Everything	Jason Hamburger	CBS pilot, also producer
2011	Mad Love	Ben Parr	Main cast & producer; 13 episodes
2012-14	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	Leonardo Rat Man Freak	Main cast, voice (Seasons 1-2) Episode: "Of Rats and Men"; Voice
2012, 2013	The Good Wife	Dylan Stack	2 episodes
2012	8 Out of 10 Cats	Himself	Guest appearance, 1 episode
2013-14; 2017; 2019	Orange Is the New Black	Larry Bloom	Main cast, 22 episodes Satellite Award for Best Cast - Television Series (2014) Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2015)
2014	Hollywood Game Night	Himself	Episode: "Game Night: Behind Bars"
2014	Deadbeat	Reed Kelly	Episode: "Out-Of-Body Issues"
2016	Nightcap	Himself	Episode: "Mean Guest"
2017	The Good Fight	Dylan Stack	Episode: "Chaos"
2017	Angry Angel	Jason Biggs	TV movie
2018	The Wendy Williams Show	Himself(Host)	Episode: "Brian Balthazar; Jason Biggs"

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Theatre	Notes
2002	The Graduate	Benjamin Braddock	Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
2015	The Heidi Chronicles	Scoop Rosenbaum	Music Box Theatre

Music video

Year	Title	Artist	Role
2000	Teenage Dirtbag	Wheatus	Title character