Michael Cera Biography

Michael Austin Cera (born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor well known for his roles in Arrested Development, Youth in Revolt, Superbad, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Juno. In 2010, he won the Satellite Award for Best Actor " Motion Picture for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

Early life

Cera was born in Brampton, Ontario. He is the son of Linda (née Cockman) and Luigi Cera, a technician. His father is from Sicily, Italy, and his mother is from Ontario. His parents both worked for Xerox. Cera has an older sister, Jordan, and a younger sister, Molly. He became interested in acting after viewing Ghostbusters repeatedly when sick with the chicken pox at the age of three. He memorized all the dialogue and idolized Bill Murray. He enrolled in The Second City Toronto and took improvisation classes.

He attended Conestoga Public School, Robert H. Lagerquist Senior Public School and Heart Lake Secondary School until grade nine, but then completed school online through grade twelve.

Acting

His first role was an unpaid appearance in a Tim Hortons summer camp commercial. That eventually led to a Pillsbury commercial in which he poked the Pillsbury Doughboy, his first role with lines.

Rise

Cera's career began when he was cast as Larrabe Hicks in the Canadian television series I Was a Sixth Grade Alien in 1999. In 2002, Cera played the young Chuck Barris in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and he also provided the voice for Brother Bear in The Berenstain Bears animated series. Also in 2002, he was cast in The Grubbs, a new Fox TV series. It received a poor critical response, including an E! Online review that called it "the worst sitcom ever produced". He also voiced Josh Spitz in the cartoon Braceface. He played George Michael Bluth in the award-winning television series Arrested Development for three seasons before it was canceled for six years. In 2005, he starred as Harold in the award winning short film Darling Darling, for which he was awarded Best Actor at the San Gio Festival in Verona, Italy. In 2006, he created and starred in a parody of Impossible is Nothing, a video résumé created by Aleksey Vayner. He also guest-starred in an episode of teen noir drama Veronica Mars " in the episode "The Rapes of Graff", which also featured Arrested Development co-star Alia Shawkat " and also in the Adult Swim series Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!.

Cera, along with best friend Clark Duke, wrote and starred in a series of short videos released on their website. The idea came from Duke, who was enrolled at Loyola Marymount University and did it for his film school studies. In 2007, they signed a deal with CBS Television to write, produce, direct, and act in a short-form comedy series entitled Clark and Michael. The show featured guest stars such as David Cross, Andy Richter and Patton Oswalt, and was distributed via CBS's new internet channel, CBS Innertube. Duke and Cera are both members of the band The Long Goodbye.

Cera also appeared in a staged comedy video that shows him being fired from the lead role of the film Knocked Up after belittling and arguing with the director, in a scene that mocks the David O. Russell blow up on the set of I Heart Huckabees.

Starred in a proposed TV commercial that was filmed in 2009 to launch Apple's first iPad, but it, and other such planned TV ads for the product, never aired.

Continuation into movies

Cera starred alongside Jonah Hill in the film Superbad, which was written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The film opened in North America on August 17, 2007. In November 2007, he hosted Saturday Night Live on strike, a live staged version of SNL not shown on television due to the 2007 Writers Guild of America Strike. Also in 2007, Cera co-starred in Juno as Paulie Bleeker, a teenager who impregnates his long-time school friend Juno (Ellen Page). For Superbad and Juno, Cera won Breakthrough Artist in the Austin Film Critics Association Awards 2007.

In 2007, Cera appeared in the comedy short "Drunk History", playing Alexander Hamilton in a comedic retelling of Hamilton's duel with Aaron Burr. Cera starred in the independent film Paper Heart. It was written by and co-starred Charlyne Yi, and premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival where it won a screenwriting award. Cera and Yi composed the movie's soundtrack. He also starred alongside Jack Black in the 2009 comedy Year One. In 2009, Cera's first published short story, "Pinecone", appeared in McSweeney's Quarterly. In January 2010, Cera starred in a film adaptation of the novel Youth in Revolt, in the role of the lead character, Nick Twisp, and his destructive "supplementary persona", François Dillinger.

Cera played the title character in the film adaptation of the graphic novel Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, released in August 2010.

In 2013, Cera is starring in Magic Magic, a film directed by Sebastian Silva and filmed in Chile, for which he spent "five hours a day learning Spanish".

Upcoming projects

According to press reports, Cera will appear in the Arrested Development film. Cera is also a writer for the fourth season of Arrested Development. Cera was being considered for the voice of the new Muppet Walter, for The Muppets, but the role was given to muppeteer Peter Linz.

Cera is collaborating with Reggie Watts, Tim & Eric, and Sarah Silverman and created the web-based comedy Youtube channel known as Jash. Cera is part of the cast of Burning Love, a web spoof of ABC's The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.

Music

In 2010 Cera contributed mandolin and backing vocals to the Weezer song "Hang On" from their album Hurley. Cera has also established himself as the touring bass player in Mister Heavenly, an indie rock band originating in the American northwest. Cera also played bass and sang back up during songs in both Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Switching Goals	Taylor	TV Movie
	What Katy Did	Dorry	TV
2000	Frequency	Gordy Jr., Age 10
	Steal This Movie!	America Hoffman, Age 7"8
	Ultimate G's: Zac's Flying Dream	Young Zac
2001	Stolen Miracle	Brandon McKinley	TV Movie
	My Louisiana Sky	Jesse Wade Thompson
	The Familiar Stranger	Young Ted Welsh
	Walter and Henry	Crying Kid
2002	Confessions of a Dangerous Mind	Chuck Barris, Age 8 and 11
2007	Superbad	Evan
	Wayside: The Movie	Todd
	Juno	Paulie Bleeker
2008	Extreme Movie	Fred
	Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist	Nick O'Leary
2009	Paper Heart	Himself
	Year One	Oh
2010	Youth in Revolt	Nick Twisp / François Dillinger
	Scott Pilgrim vs. the World	Scott Pilgrim
2012	The End of Love	Michael
	The Immigrant	Michael	Short
2013	This Is the End	Himself
	Crystal Fairy	Jamie
	Magic Magic	Brink
	Gregory Go Boom	Gregory	Short Film (Youtube's Comedy Week)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Twice in a Lifetime (TV series)	Skateboarder #2	one episode
1999	I Was a Sixth Grade Alien	Larrabe Hicks	Series regular
1998"2001	Rolie Polie Olie	Little Gizmo	Four Episodes, voice only
2000	La Femme Nikita	Jerome	Season four, one episode
2001"2003	The Berenstain Bears	Brother Bear	Series regular, voice only
2001"2005	Braceface	Josh Spitz	Series regular, voice only
2003"2006, 2013	Arrested Development	George Michael Bluth	Series regular (68 episodes); also writer and consulting producer (season 4)
2005"2007	Wayside	Todd (Pilot)	Pilot, voice only
2006	Veronica Mars	Dean Rudolph	The Rapes of Graff, Guest Spot
2007	Clark and Michael	Mikey Cera	Series regular
2007	Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!	Jamie Stevens	Season One, Episode Three
2008, 2010-present	Childrens Hospital	Sal Viscuso	Recurring, voice only
2010	Scott Pilgrim vs. the Animation	Scott Pilgrim	Promo for the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
2012	The Simpsons	Nick	One episode, voice only, "The Daughter Also Rises"
2013	Drunk History	John Endicott	Episode: "Boston"

Awards

Awards
Year	Result	Award	Category	Nominated Work
2002		Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in a TV Movie or Special: Supporting Young Actor	My Louisiana Sky
2004		TV Land Awards	TV Land Future Classic Award	Arrested Development
2005		Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Arrested Development
2006		Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Arrested Development
2007		Chicago Film Critics Association Awards	Most Promising Performer	Juno
		Austin Film Critics Association	Breakthrough Artist Award
				Superbad
2008		Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	Best Young Actor	Superbad
				Juno
			Best Acting Ensamble
		Canadian Comedy Awards	Best Performance by a Male: Film	Superbad
		MTV Movie Awards	Breakthrough Performance	Superbad
			Best Kiss	Juno
			Best Male Performance
		Satellite Awards	Best Actor in a Motion Picture: Comedy or Musical	Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
		Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Actor: Comedy	Superbad
			Choice Movie Breakout: Male
			Best Movie Actor: Comedy	Juno
			Choice Movie Breakout: Male
			Choice Comedian	Himself
2009		BAFTA Awards	Rising Star Award	Himself
		Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Actor: Music/Dance	Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
2010		Satellite Awards	Best Actor in a Motion Picture: Comedy or Musical	Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
2011		Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Actor: Action	Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

See also

• List of former child actors from Canada