Sunday, July 31, 2011

Seth Rogen


Seth Rogen (pronounced /ˈroʊgɪn/; born April 15, 1982) is a Canadian comedian, screenwriter, voice artist, film producer and actor. Rogen began his career doing stand-up comedy during his teens, winning the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest in 1998. While still living in his native Vancouver, he landed a small part in Freaks and Geeks. Shortly after Rogen moved to Los Angeles for his role, Freaks and Geeks was canceled after one season due to poor ratings. He then got a part on the equally short-lived Undeclared, which also hired him as a staff writer.


Rogen got his start in show business at age 12, after signing up for a comedy workshop class taught by Mark Pooley. His early comedy routines involved jokes about his bar mitzvah, his grandparents and his camp counselors. Once it occurred to him that being funny could be an actual job, that was the career path he wanted. During his teenage years he would perform stand-up comedy routines at places like bar mitzvahs and small parties before upgrading to bars. He was even paid to write jokes by a mohel. At the age of 13, he co-wrote a rough draft of Superbad with childhood friend Evan Goldberg, who 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 the 1999 film American Pie had beaten them to the idea for the movie, but felt that it lacked "all honest interaction between characters, which is what [they]'re going for."


His mother was supportive of his comic endeavors and would often drive him to stand up gigs at the comedy club Yuk Yuks. With his deadpan humor, he won the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest at 16 years-old. Also at age 16, Rogen's 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. After dropping out of high school, he 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.


Rogen's acting debut was in Apatow's 1980s-set cult hit series Freaks and Geeks as Ken Miller, a cynical, acerbic "freak". 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 canceled after one season due to poor rating.Very 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 male material. Apatow opted not to go along with the show but, after facing the chance of getting sued, he hired him for a small role. Rogen also served as a staff writer to the short-lived production.


Rogen had brief parts in the Drew Barrymore-produced Donnie Darko (2001) and Apatow's Will Farrell-starring 2004 film Anchorman. 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 witty 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," 


Cute Pose Seth Rogen


Seth Rogen The Green Hornet Player


After years of development, a feature film adaptation of The Green Hornet was handled by Rogen and Goldberg, with a theatrical release in January 2011. Rogen chose to do a re-imagining of the titular character. Besides executively producing the movie, he also cast himself as the main part. Rogen later admitted to having been overwhelmed by handling its $120 million budget.


Seth Rogen Action